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w 


^^/z-^^-.-^^ 


L.  KOSSUTH 


Austria,  Front ispiect. 


AUSTRIA 

ITS 

RISE  AND  PRESENT  POWER 

BY 

JOHN  S.  C  ABBOTT 

WITH  A  SUPPLEMENTARY  CHAPTER  OF  RECENT  EVENTi> 

By  WILFRED  C.  LAY,  Ph.D. 


ILLUSTRATED 


NEW  YORK 

PETER   FENELON  COLLIER  &  SON 


^ 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1853,  by 

MASON     BROTHERS. 

Tn  «ie  Clerk's  omce  of  the  District  Court  for  tlie  Soutliern  District  of  New  Yorfc- 

COPTRKJHT,  1S77, 
BT  estate  of  JOHN   S.  C.  ABBOTT. 


OOPTSISHT  BT  DODD,  MSAO,  AMD  COMPAKT,  188& 


PREFACE. 

The  studies  of  the  author  of  this  work,  for  the  last  ten 
i,  in  writing  the  "  History  of  Napoleon  Bonaparte,"  and 
"  The  French  Revolution  of  1789,"  have  necessarily  made 
him  quite  familiar  with  the  monarchies  of  Europe.  He  has 
met  with  so  much  that  was  strange  and  romantic  in  their 
career,  that  he  has  been  interested  to  undertake,  as  it  were,  a 
biography  of  the  Monarchies  of  Continental  Europe — their 
birth,  education,  exploits,  progress  and  present  condition.  He 
has  commenced  with  Austria. 

There  are  abundant  materials  for  this  work.  The  Life  of 
Austria  embraces  all  that  is  wild  and  wonderful  in  history  ; 
her  early  struggles  for  aggrandizement — the  fierce  strife  with 
the  Turks,  as  wave  after  wave  of  Moslem  invasion  rolled  up 
the  Danube — the  long  conflicts  and  bloody  persecutions  of  the 
Reformation — the  thirty  years'  religious  war — the  meteoric 
career  of  Gustavus  Adolphus  and  Charles  XII.  shooting 
athwart  the  lurid  storms  of  battle — the  intrigues  of  Popes — 
the  enormous  pride,  power  and  encroachments  of  Louis  XIV. 
— ^the  warfare  of  the  Spanish  succession  and  the  Polish  dis- 
memberment— all  these  events  combine  in  a  sublime  tragedj 
which  fiction  may  in  vain  attempt  to  parallel. 


fl  PREFACE. 

It  is  affecting  to  observe  in  the  history  of  Germany,  through 
what  woes  humanity  has  passed  in  attainmg  even  its  present 
position  of  civilization.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  human 
family  may  never  again  suffer  what  it  has  already  endured. 
We  shall  be  indeed  insane  if  we  do  not  gain  some  wisdom 
fi'om  the  struggles  and  the  calamities  of  those  who  have  gone 
before  us.  The  narrative  of  the  career  of  the  Austrian  Em- 
pire, must,  by  contrast,  excite  emotions  of  gratitude  in  every 
American  bosom.  Our  lines  have  fallen  to  us  in  pleasant 
pla^ies  ;  we  have  a  goodly  heritage. 

It  is  the  author's  intention  soon  to  issue,  as  the  second  ol 
this  series,  the  History  of  the  Empire  of  Russia. 

JOI£N  S.  C.  ABBOTT. 

Bbuxswiok,  Maiae,  1869. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER    I. 

BBODOLPH      OF      HAPBBDBe. 

From  1282  to  1291. 

rum 
Bawk's  Cabtlb. — Albeet,  Coctnt  of  Hapsbueg. — Khodolpu  of  Lapsbtbo.— Hn 
Mabbiage  and  Estates. — Excommunication  and  its  Ebsults, — Hi»  Pbihoi- 

PI.E8    OF    HONOE. — A     CONFEDBEACT    OF    BaBONS. — ThBIE    EOUTE. — EhODOLPhVS 

Election  aa  Empeeoe  of  Gkbmant.— The   Bisuop's  Wabning. — Dissatisfac- 
tion AT  tub  Result  of  the  Election. — Advantages  acobuino  pbom  the  Po8- 

BBBBION   OF   AN    INTBBE8T1NG  FAMILY.— CONQITEST. — OtTOQAB  ACKNOWLEDGES  THB 

Ehpebob;  yet  bbeaes  his  Oath  of  Allegiance. — Qathebinq  Clouds. — Wo»- 
DEBFUL  Escape. — Viotobt  of  Rhodolph. — His  Rbpobms It 


CHAPTER     II. 
BEIGNS  OF  ALBERT  I.,  FREDERIC,  ALBEET  AND  OTHa 

Fbom  1291  to  184T. 

▲nbodotes  of  Ebodolpb. — His  Desibe  fob  the  Election  of  aia  Son.— His 
Death. — Albeet. — His  Unpopulaeitt. — Co.vbpibaot  op  the  Nobles. — Theib 
Defeat. — Adolphus  of  Nassau  chosen  Empebob. — Albebt's  Conbpebaot.'^Db- 
posiTioN  OF  Adolphcs  and  Election  of  Albeet. — Death  of  Adolphus. — ^Thh 
Pope  Defied. — Annexation  of  Bohemia. — Assassination  of  Albeet. — Avbn&- 
iNo  FuET. — The  Hebmit'b  Dieection. — Feedebio  thk  Handsome. — Eleotioh 
OF  Hbnbt,  Count  ofLuxembubg. — His  Death. — Election  of  Louis  of  Bava- 
EiA. — Captube  of  Fbedeeic. — Remaekable  Confidence  towabd  a  Peibonkb. 
— Dbath  of  PHEDEBia — An  bablt  Engagement.— Death  op  Louib.— Acobbbjoh 
opAlbbbt 04 

CHAPTER    III. 

BHODOLPH  II.,  ALBERT  IV.  AND  ALBBBT  ▼. 

Fbom  1389  to  1437. 
Bbodolph  II.— MABBiAes  OP  JoHN  TO  Mabgabet.— Intbiguing  fob  thk  Ttbol.— 
DsATH  OP  Bhodolph. — AooESSioN  OF  PowEB  TO  Austbia. — ^DrvTDiNO  the  Bh* 
FIBX. — Delight  of  the  Empebob  Chables. — Leopold. — His  Ambition  and  8uo 
0K8SE8. — Hedwige,  Queen  of  Poland. — "The  Course  op  tbue  Love  neveb  did 
■UN  smooth." — Unhappy  Mabeiage  of   Hedwise. — Heroism  of  Arnold  or 

WlMKBLBEID, — DbATB  OP  LEOPOLD. — DeATH   OP   ALBBBT  IV. — ACCESSION  OP  AV 

BBBT  V. — Attempts  op  Sioismond  to  bequeath  to  Axbebt  V.  Hungary  akd 
BomoiiA 40 

1* 


Vili  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

ALBiSBT,    LADISLAU3    AND    PREDKRIO. 

Feom  1440  TO  1489. 

PAM 

Shobbasino  Honors  op  Albbet  V. — Enokoaohmknts  op  thb  TrRK9.--THK  Ohxis> 
TiAMS  EouTBD. — Teekoe  OP  THE  Httnoabians. — Dbath  op  Albkbt. — MAGNAjn- 
1C0U9  Conduct  op  Albert  op  Bavaria. — Internal  Teohblks. — Peboooitt  or 
Ladislaits. — F0RTIPIOAT10N8  raised  by  the  Turks. — John  Capistrun. — Rssoira 
W  Bblobade. — The  Tueks  Dispersed. — Exultation  ovee  the  Viotory. — 
Dbath  op  Hunniades.— Jealc  usy  op  Ladislaus. — His  Death.— Bbotheblt 
Qtabbbls.— Devastations  by  the  Turks. — Invasion  op  Austbia. — Bkpbal  o» 

THE  COHPBOHISB. — ThB  EupBEOB   A   FuOITIVB (8 


CHAPTER    V. 

THE  EMPERORS  FREDERIC  II.  AND  MAXIMILIAN  t 

Feom  14T7  to  1500. 
Wandbbinss  op  THB  Empbbob  Fbederio. — Proposed  Alliance  with  thb  Dmra 
or  BuROUNDY. — Mutual  Distrust. — Marriage  op  Mary. — The  Age  op  Chiv» 
ALRY. — The  Motive  inducing  the  Lord  of  Praunstein  to  deolaee  Wab. — 
Death  op  Frederic  II. — The  Emperor's  Secret. — Designs  op  the  Turks.— 
Death  op  Mahomet  II. — First  Establishment  op  Standing  Armies. — Use  op 
Gunpowder. — Energy  of  Maximilian. — French  Aggressions. — The  League 
to  expel  the  French. — Disappointments  of  Maximilian. — Bribing  the  Pope. 
Invasion  of  Italy.— Capture  and  Reoaptuee. — The  Chevalier  db  Bayabik    T1 


CHAPTER    VI. 

MAXIMILIAN    I. 

From  1500  to  1519. 
Babb  Tebaoheby  of  the  Swiss  Soldiers. — Perfidy  of  Ferdinand  op  Abbaooh. 
— Appeals  by  Superstition. — Coalition  with  Spain. — The  League  op  Oam- 
bray. — Infamy  of  the  Pope. — The  King's  Apology. — Failure  op  the  Plot. — 
Germany  aroused. — Confidence  op  Maximilian. — Longings  for  the  Ponttpi- 
OAL  Chair. — Maximilian  Bribed. — Leo  X. — Dawning  Prosperity. — Matri- 
monial Projects. — Commencement  op  the  War  of  Reformation. — Sioknbm 
OF  Maximilian. — His  last  Directions. — His  Death. — The  Standabd  bt  whiob 

HIS  OHABAGTBB  IB  TO  BE  JUDGED Ol 


CHAPTER     VII. 

CHARLES    V.    AND    THE    REFORMATION. 

From  1519  to  1531. 

Obabub  v.  op  Spain. — His  Election  as  Empeeob  op  Gebmany.— Hb  Oobowa- 

TION. — Thh  First  Constitution. — Progress  of  the  Reformation. — The  Popb'b 

Boxl  against  Luther.  —  His  Contempt  for  his  Holiness. —  The  Diet  at 

WoBHS. — Fbederio's  Objection  to  the  Condemnation  of  Luther  by  the  Dm. 


CONTENTS.  II 

^  HB   OBTAnra    FOB    LdTHBB    THE    RlSHT    OP    OeFBNSE.  —  LuTHES'S    TBIXTXPHAL 

Masoh  to  the  Tbibunal. — Chaklks  ueoed  to  Violate  his  Safe  Conduct. — 
Lctbeb's  Pathos. — Mabeiaoe  ok  Sisteb  Catharine  Boba  to  Luther. — Tkr- 
BiBLE  Insuebeotion. — ^The  Holy  Lkaque. — ^Thb  Protest  or  Spires. — Confbb- 
eioN  or  AnoBBURO. — The  Two  Confessions. — Compulsobt  Measures 1<W 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

OHABLES    V.    AND    THE    R  E  F  ORM  ATI  ON. 

From  1531  to  1552. 
Obivrhination  to  crush  Protestantism. — Incursion  of  the  Turks.— Valob  <w 
THE  Protestants. — Preparations  for  renewed  Hostilities. — Augmentation 
OF  THE  Protestant  Forces. — The  Council  op  Trent. — Mutual  Constebna- 
■noN. — Defeat  of  the  Protestant  Aemt. — Unlooked-for  Succor. — Revolt  in 
THE  Emperor's  Army. — The  Fluctuations  op  Fortune. — Ignoble  Revenge. — 
Capture  of  Wittkmbero.  —  Protestantis.m  apparently  crushed.  —  Plot 
AGAINST  Charles. — Maurice  of  Saxony. — A  Change  op  Scene. — Thb  Bitbb 
BIT — Thb  Emperor  humbled. — His  Flight.— His  determined  Will ISl 


CHAPTER     IX. 

CHARLES  V.  AND  THE  TURKISH  WARS 
From  1552  to  1555. 
Thb  Treaty  of  Passau. — The  Emperor  yields. — His  continued  Reverses. — ^Thb 
Toleration  Compromise. — Mutual  Dissatisfaction. — Remarkable  Despon- 
dency OF  THE  Emperor  Charles. — His  Address  to  the  Convention  at  Brus- 
sels.—The  Convent  of  St.  Justus. — Charles  returns  to  Spain. — His  Convent 
Life. — The  Mock  Burial. — His  Death. — His  Traits  op  Character. — Thb 
King's  Compliment  to  Titian. — The  Condition  of  Austria. — Rapid  Advanob 
OP  the  Turks. — Reasons  for  the  Inaction  of  the  Christians. — The  Sultan's 
Method  op  Overcoming  Difficulties. — The  little  Fortress  of  Quntz. — 
What  rr  aooompushbd 180 


CHAPTER     X. 
FERDINAND    I.  — HIS    WARS    AND    INTRIGUES. 
From  1555  to  1662. 
JOBH  OF  Tapoli. — Thb  Instability  op  Compacts. — The  Sultan's  Dbmands.— A 
Rbign  of  War. — Powers  and   Duties  of  the  Monarohs  op  Bohemia. — Thb 
Diet.— The  King's    Desire  to    crush    Protestantism.  —  Thb  Entrance   to 
Prague. — Terror   op   the    Inhabitants. — The    King's    Conditions.  —  Thb 
Bloody  Dibt. — Disciplinary  Msasubes. — The  establishment  of  the  Order 
OP  Jesuits. — Abdication  op  Charles  V.  in  Favor  op  Ferdinand. — Power  of 
THE  Pope. — Paul  IV. — A  quiet  but  powerful  Blow. — The  Progrf,s9  of  thb 
Reformers. — Attempts  to  reconcile  the  Protestants.— The   unsuccessful 
Assembly I.'i! 


C  dONTBNT0 

CHAPTER    XI. 

DEATH  OF  FEBDmAND  L— ACCESSION  OF  MAXrMMilAN  H. 
Fbom  1662  TO  1679. 
Tbb  CoimoiL  OP  Tbent.— Spbbao  or  tbb  Befobuatioh. — FsBDiirAirD's  AxrutPT 

TO  rNFLlTENOB  THS  PoPB. — HiB  ABSUKBNTS  ASAtKaT  CBLIBAOT. — STirBBOKHNBSS 
OF  THB   PoPB. — MaXQOLIAR    IL— DtSPLEAStTBE    OF    FeBDINAKO. — MoTIVKS    FOB 

ROT  ABJTTBme  THB  Cathouo  Faith. — Beuoious  Stbifb  in  Ecbopb.— Maxhoi^ 
ian'b  Addbbss  to  Chablbs  IX.— Mutual  Tolebation. — Bomantio  Pastimb  of 
Wab.— Hbbosm  of  Nicholas,  Coitkt  of  Zbini. — Accession  of  Povbb  to  Auft* 
VBiA.— Accession  OF  BaoDoifS  UL— Death  or  Maxdouah 166 


CHAPTER    XII. 

OHABACTTEB  of  MAXIMILIAN.— succession  OF  BHODOIPH  m. 

Fbom  1576  to  1604. 
Gbabaotbb  of  Maximilian. — His  Accomplibhubnts. — His  Wifb. — Fatb  of  an 
Childben. — Bhodolph  III. — The  Libebtt  of  Wobship. — Means  or  Emancipa- 
tion.—  Bhodolph's  Attempts  against  Peotestantism.  —  Declaeation  of  a 
HiOHEB  Law. — Theological  Duteeenoeb. — The  Confbdeeaot  at  Hbilbbitb. 
— ^The  Geegobian  Calendab. — Intolerance  in  Bohemia. — ^The  Teap  of  thb 
Monks. — Invasion  of  the  Tubkb. — Theie  Defeat. — Coalition  -with  Bioisuoni 
— Sale  of  Transylvania. — Kule  of  Babta. — ^Thb  Empibe  CAPTtrBBD  and  bi 

CAPTUBBD.— DbVASTATION  of  THB  CoiTNTBT. — TbBATMBNT  OF  StBPHBN  BoTBSOE 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

SHODOLPH    III.    AND    MATTHIAS. 

Feom  1604  TO  1609. 
BoTBEOi'B  Manifesto. — Hobrible  Scffbeing  in  Teansylvania. — Chabaotbb  <» 
BoTSKOi. — Confidence  of  the  Peotestants. — Superstition  of  RHODOiiPH.— > 
His  Mystic  Studies. — Acquirements  of  Matthias. — Schemes  of  Matthias. — 

His  1N0EEA8ING  PoWER. — TREATY  WITH  THE  TuRKS. — DEMANDS  ON  EhODOLPH.— 

The  Compeomise. — Pebfidyof  Matthias. — ^The  Mabgbavite. — Filubustebino. 
-The  People's  Diet. — A  Hint  to  Eotalty. — The  Bloodless  Teiumph. — Db- 

MANDe  OF  THB  QbBMAIIB. — ^AoDBESB  OF  THB  FbINOB  OF  AnHALT  TO  TBB  KlNO....  .  Vf 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

BHODOLPH    III.    AND    MATTHIAS. 

Fbom  1609  to  1612. 

PlfTMim.TmB  AS  to  THB  SUOOBSSION.— 'HoSTfLITY  OF  HbNBY  IY.  TO  '^  HOOH  OT 
AUBTBIA.— AbBABBINATION    OF   HbNBT  IY. — SUOLABXTT  IN  8UU.Y^  AND  NaTO> 

laoN's  Plans. — Exitltation  of  thb  Catholics. — The  Bbotbeb's  CoMPAOt— 
Hew  Bhodolph  kbpt  it.-^eizubb  or  Pbaoite. — Bhodolph  a  Pbisonhb.— Tn 


CONTENTS.  Il 

pxaa 
KiKa%  Abdication.— CowDiTioNa  attached  to  the  Crown. — Raob  op  Bug- 

DOLPH.— M.ATTUIA8  ELECTED  KlNO. — ThK  EMPEROb'S    EeSIDKNOB.— EEJOIOniQS  OP 

THE  Protestants. — Reply  op  the  Aubassadors. — The  NcTREMBERa  Diet. — Th» 

ITNKINDBST  Cut  OP  ALL. — RhODOLPH'S  HiTMIUATION  AKD  DsATH 9U 


CHAPTER    XV. 

MATTHIAS. 
From  1612  to  1619. 
Uatthias  slkoted  Euperob  of  Germany.  —  His  despotio  Chabaotkb.  —  Hn 

PULNS  THWARTED. — MuLHEIM. — OAXaBRlNO    ClOUDS. — FaMILT  InTRIOUB.— COB- 

ONATION  OP  Ferdinand. — His  Biqotby. — Henry,  Coun':"  of  Thukn. — Conven- 
tion AT  Prague. — The  Kino's  Reply. — The  Die  oast. — Amusing  Defense  op 
AN  Outrage. — Ferdinand's  Manifesto. — Seizitre  op  Cardinal  Klesis. — Ths 
Kino's  Raoe. — Retreat  of  the  Kino's  Troops.— Humiliation  op  Fkedihakd. 
— Thk  DnTiouLTrBS  rbpbbrbd. — Death  of  Matthias....     .  .   .....  ...  .   ..  .  il9 


CHAPTER    XVI. 

FERDINAND    II. 

From  1619  to  1621. 

Possessions  op  the  Emperor. — Power  of  thb  Protestants  op  Bohkmia. — Gmr* 

BBAL  Spirit  op  Insurrection. — Anxiety  op  Ferdinand. — Insueeeotion  led  bt 

Count  Thurn. — Unpopularity  of  the  Emperor. — Affecting  Declaration  of 

THE  Emperor. — Insurrection  in  Vienna. — The  Areival  of  Succor. — Fbrdi 

NAND  SEEKS  THE  IMPERIAL  ThEONE. — REPUDIATED  BY  BOHEMIA. — THE  PaLATIR- 
ATE. — FeBDBRIO    offered    THB     CrOWN     OP     BoHEMIA. — FbEDERIO     CROWNED. — 

Revolt  in  Hungary. — Desperate  Condition  of  the  Emperoe. — Catholio 
League. — The  Calvinists  and  the  Purvtans. — Duplicity  of  the  Empbeob.— 
FoBBiGN  Combinations. — Truce  between  the  Catholics  and  the  Pbotbst- 
Aim. — Tbz  Attack  upon  Bohemia.— Battlb  of  the  Whttb  Mountain 248 


CH  APTE  R    XVII. 

FERDINAND  II. 
Feom  1621  TO  1629. 
PoOLLAiainTT  OF  Fbkdbeio. — Intebaties  of  the  Citizens  op  Pbasub. — SaAia> 
ruL  Flight  of  Feedebio. — Vengeance  inflicted  upon  Bohemia. — Peot»t- 
antism  and  civil  Fbeedom. — Vast  Poweb  of  the  Emperor. — Alabm  of  Eu- 
BUPB. — Jambs  I. — Tbbaty  of  Marriage  for  the  FRrNOE  of  Wales. — Cardinal 
Biohelibu. — New  League  op  the  Pbotbstants. — Desolating  War. — Dbfbat 
OF  THE  King  of  Dbnmaek. — Energy  op  Wallenstein. — Triumph  op  Ferdi- 
HAND. — New  Acts  op  Intolebance. — Sevebities  in  Bohemia. — Desolation  of 
thb  Kingdom.— Dissatisfaction  of  the  Duke  of  BAVABiA-^MBsriNa  of  thb 
Oatholio  Prinoks. — The  Emperor  Humbled Sfl 


SU  0CNTBNT8. 

CHAPTER    XVIII. 

FBBDINAND   II.   AND   GUSTAYUS   ADOLPHUS. 

Fbom  1629  TO  1682. 

Vbzation  op  Fbbdinaitd. — GusTAVus  Adolphus. — Address  to  the  Noblb  or 
BwKDBN. — Maboh  of  GusTAvtrs.— Appbal  to  the  Peotestants. — MAOOEBinte 
JOINS  Gfstavcts. — Destruction  of  the  City. — Constebnation  of  the  Protest- 
ants.— Exultation  of  the  Catholics. — The  Eleotob  op  Saxony  driven  pboii 
HIS  Domains. — Battle  of  Lkipsio. — The  Swedes  penbtbatb  Bohemia. — Fbbb- 
DOM  op  Conscience  established. — Death  of  Tilly. — The  Eetiebment  of  Wal- 
LENSTEiN.— The  Command  besumed  by  Wallenstein.— Captuee  op  Peagitb.— 
Encounter  between  Wallenstein  and  Gcstavcb. — Battle  op  Lnrzmi.— 
Death  OP  GtrsTAvirs S79 


CHAPTER    XIX. 

FERDINAND  II.,  FERDINAND  III.  AND  LEOPOLD  1. 

From  1632  to  1662. 
Ohaeaoteb  op  Qustavus  Adolphus. — Exultation  op  the  Imperialists.— Dd> 
ORACB  op  Wallenstein. — He  offers  to  surrender  to  the  Swedish  Qbnekal. 
— His  Assassination. — Ferdinand's  Son  elected  as  his  Successob. — Death  op 
Ferdinand. — Close  of  the  Wae. — Abdication  of  Christina. — Charles  Gub* 
TAVU8.— 'Preparations  fob  Wab.  —  Death  of  Febdinand  III.  —  Leopold 
elected  Empebob. — Hostilities  Renewed. — Death  op  Chables  GusTAVoa— 
Diet  ooNyBNBD.— Ikvabion  op  THE  Tubks 9 


CHAPTER    XX. 

LEOPOLD     I. 

Fbom  1662  to  1697. 

Invasion  op  the  Tubes. — A  Treaty  concluded. — Possessions  op  Leopold.— Iir> 
VASiON  OP  the  French. — League  of  Augsburg. — Devastation  of  the  Palati- 
nate.— Invasion  of  Hungary. — Emerio  Tekeli. — Union  of  Emeeic  Tekeu 
with  the  Turks. — ^Leopold  applies  to  Sobieski. — He  immediately  marches 
TO  his  Aid. — The  Turks  conquered. — Sobieski's  triumphal  Reoeptionb.— 
Meanness  op  Leopold. — Revenge  upon  HdNGART.— Peace  oonclitded.'— Goii- 
test  roB  Spain 811 


CHAPTER    XXI. 

LEOPOLD  I.  AND  THE  SPANISH  SUOOESSION 

From  1697  to  1710. 

The  Spanish  Succession. — ^The  Impotence  op  Charles  II. — Appeal  to  the  Popk 

— His  Decision. — Death  of  Chables  II. — Accession  op  Philip  V. — Inoisha- 

JiON  OF  AnsTBiA. — The  OuTBBRAK  OF  War. — Charles  III.  crowned. — Inbvb- 

BBonoN  IN  Hitngary.— Defection  of  Bavaria. — The  Batti.e  op  Blekheoi.' 


OONTBNTS.  Xiii 

PAOa 
Dbath  or  Lkopold  I. — ^Elbomora. — Aoobssion  or  Joseph  I.— Ohasub  XIL  3r 
BwBDKN. — Charlks  IIL   of  Spain. — Battub  or  Malplaqubt. — Chablb    4T 
Babobloma. — CHASLBa  AT  Madrid MS 


CHAPTER    XXII. 

JOSEPH    I.    AND    0HABLE8    VI. 

From  ITIO  to  1717. 

PssPLBxrrrBg  in  Madrid. — Flight  of  Cbablbs. — Estreat  or  the  Acbtkias 
Armt. — Stakhope's  Division  out  off. — CAPTtrRE  or  Stanhope. — STABEMBXBd 
ASSAILED. — Retreat  to  Barcelona. — Attempt  to  paoift  Hunoaet. — The  Hun- 
OARiAM  Diet. — Baronial  crowning  op  Ragotskt. — Renewal  of  the  Hitnga- 
BIAN  War. — Entbbprisb  of  Herbeville. — The  Hungaeiansobusued. — Lenitt 
or  Joseph. — Death  of  Joseph. — Accession  op  Charles  VI. — His  Career  in 
Spain.— Capture  of  Baeoelona. — The  Siege. — The  Rescue. — Chabacteb  of 
Charles. — Cloisters  of  Montseerat. — Increased  Efforts  for  the  Spanish 
Crown. — Charles  crowned  Empebob  of  Austria  and  Hungast.— Bohemia. — 
DiPtAKiiBLB  Condition  or  Louis  XIY 8tt 


CHAPTER    XXIII. 

OHABLBB      YI. 

From  1716  to  1727. 

Hnoto  Deoisiov  or  Eusbne.— Battle  or  Belgbadb.— Uttkb  Bout  or  ihb 
Turks. — Possessions  of  Charles  VI. — The  Elector  of  Hanover  suoobkds  to 
THE  English  Tueonk.— Pbepabations  foe  War. — State  of  Italy. — Philip  V. 
or  Spain. — Diplomatic  Agitations. — Palace  of  St.  Ildefonso. — Oedee  or  thb 
Golden  Fleece. — Rejection  op  Maeia  Anne. — Contest  foe  the  Rock  or  Qi»- 

BALTAB.— DiBMIBSAJ.  OF  BlPPERDA. — TrSATT  OF  VlENNA. — PbaOB  OONOLUDBD.  .  .  .   Ml 


CHAPTER    XXIV. 

0HABLK8    YI.    AND    THB    POLISH    WAB. 
From  1727  to  1785. 

O&BDINAL  FLBUBT. — ^ThB  EmpBROR  OF  AUSTRIA  URGES  THE   PraOMATIO   SaNOTKMI. 
^Hb  PROMISES  HIS  TWO  DAUGHTERS  TO  THE   TWO     S0N8  OF  THB  QUEEN  Or  SPAOI. 

— Franob,  England  and  Spain  unite  against  Austria. — Charles  VL  iBSua 
Orders  to  prepabb  for  War,— His  Peeplexitibs. — Seobet  Oveetuees  to  Kn- 
OLAND. — The  Ceown  of  Poland.— Meeting  of  the  Polish  Congress. — Stanb* 

LAUB  GOES  TO    POLAND. — AUGUSTUS    III.  CROWNED. — WaE. — ChABLES    SENDS   AJT 

Army  TO  Lombard Y. — Diftioultibs  of  Peinoe  Eugene.— Chaelbs's  Dibplbas- 
enE  WITH  England. — Lstteb  to  Count  Kinsk y. — Hostilitibs  benswkd 918 


aV  OONTKNTB. 

CHAPTER    XXV. 

OBABLBS    TI.    AND    THE    TUBKISH    WAS    UBHBWBO. 

From  1785  to  1T89. 

PAQfi 

Anxiett  of  Austbian  Office-holdebs. — Mabia  Thebka. — The  Duke  of  Lob- 

BAINE.— DiBTBAOTION  OF  THE    EmPEBOE.— TuSOANT    ASSieNED    TO    THE   DUKB  OF 

LoBBAiNE. — Death  of   Eugene. — Bising  Geeatness  of  Russia. — New  War 

inTH  THE  TUBKB. — CONDITION  OF  THE  AbMY. — CiOMMENOEirENT  OF  HoSTrLITIBS'— 

Captube  of  N188A. — Inefhoibnt  Campaign. — Disgbaob  of  Seckendoef. — ^Thb 

DlTKB  OF  LOBBAINE  PLACED  IN  COMMAND. — SlEGE  OF  ObSOVA. — BeLGBADE  BB- 
tVBSiZD  BY  THE  TUBKB. — ThE  THIBD  CAMPAIGN. — BaTTLB  OF  CbOTZKA- — DSFBAT 
or  THE  AUSTBIANB. — CONSTEBNATION   IN    YiENNA. — BABBABtBIt  OF  THX  TUSKB.— 

Tbs  Subbendbb  OF  Belgbade M4 


CHAPTER    XXVI. 

MARIA  THERESA. 
Fbom  1789  TO  1741. 
AiratriBH  OF  THB  KiNO. — Lettee  TO  THE  Queen  of  Russia. — The  im pkbial  Orao(r« 
LAB. — Deplobable  Condition  of  Acsteia. — Death  of  Chables  VI. — AooEa- 
SIGN  of  Maeia  Thebbsa. — ViGOBOUS  Mr>sube8  of  the  Queen. — Claim  of  thb 
DuKB  of  Bavabia. — Responses  fbom  the  Coubts. — Coldness  of  the  Fbenob 
Couet. — Fbedebio  of  Pbubsia. — His  Invasion  of  Silesia. — SIaboh  of  the  Adb- 
TBLAUS. — Battle  of  Molnitz. — Fibhness  of  Maria  Theeeba. — Pboposed  Div»- 
lOH  OF  PLxnrDEB. — Villaixt  of  Fbedebio. — Intebvibw  with  the  KtNO. — Obab 
AOTEB  OF  Fbedebio.— Coumenoembnt  of  the  oenebal  Invasion 41S 


CHAPTER    XXVII. 

MARIA  THERESA. 
Fbom  1741  to  1748. 
Ohabaotzb  of  Fbanob,  Duke  of  Loebaine. — Policy  of  Eubopban  Ooubtb.— 
Plan  of  the  Allies. — Siege  of  Peague. — Despebatb  Condition  of  the  QuEmi 
— HsB  Coronation  in  Hunqaey. — Enthusiasm  oftheBaeons. — Speech  of  Ma- 
BiA  TirERESA. — Peace  wtth  Fbedebio  of  Pbussia. — His  Duplicity.— Militabt 
Movement  of  the  Dukb  op  Loebaine. — Battle  ofChazleau. — Second  Tebaty 
wiTii  Feederio. — Despondency  of  the  Duke  of  Bavabia. — March  of  Malle- 

B0I9  — EXTBAOBDIMABT  RetBBAT  OF  BbLLEIBLB. — BbCOVEBY  OF  PbASITB  BT  TBB 
QUXKN 40 


CHAPTER   XXVIIIf. 

MARIA    THERESA. 
Fbom  1743  to  174& 
PMMPBBOire  AsPBOT  OF  AUSTRIAN  Affaibs. — Captube  OF  Eoba.— Vast  BxnvT  09 
AtnwBiA.— DiBPUTE  with  Sardinia.— Maebiage  of  Chableb  of  Lobbainb  with 


OORTBNTB.  XV 


am  QtrSKN'B  SiSTBB.— IVTABIOR  OF  AlBAOK.— FbbDKBIO  OTXBKUIIB  BOHKMIA.— 
BOHKMIA  BBOOVEKEO  BT  PbIMCB    CHABLBS. — DbATH   OF  TBB   EmPBBOB    ChaSLB 

VII.— Vknautt  of  THii  ou)  MoNABOHiBS.— Battlk  Of  HoHENPBiKFBBBa. — Sn 
Thomab  Bobinbon'8  Intbbvibw  with  Mabia  Thbbeba. — HiTNOABiAV  Emao- 
8iA«M. — Tsn  DuxE  OF  LoBBAisB  bleotbd  Empbbob. — CoNTtNUATiOK  or  tBB  Was. 
—TsKATT  or  Pbaos. — Imdionation  of  Mabia  Tbxrbsa 441 


CHAPTER    XXIX. 

MABIA    TU£B£8A. 
f  BOU  1748  TO  1769. 
AuATT  OF  Peaoe.— Dibsatibfaotion  OF  Mabia   Thbbbba. — Pbkparatioh  fob 
Wab. — EnPTtTBB  between   England   and  Aubteia. — Mabia  Theeeba. — Air 

UANOX  WITH  FbANOE. — iNFLrTENOE  OF  MAEOmOITESS  OF  PoMPADOtTE. — BiTTBB 
BSFBOACHBS  BETWEBK  AUSTEIA  AND  ENGLAND. — COMSTEKOEMENT  OF  THE   SeTEH 

Ybabs'  War. — Energy  of  Fbedebio  of  Pecbsia. — Sanguinary  Battles.— 
VioiBsrruDEB  of  War. — Despebatb  Situation  of  Fbedebis. — Elation  of  Ma- 
KiA  Thsbesa.— Hkb  aubitiocb  Plans. — Awful  Defeat  of  thk  Pbussians  at 
Bbooi 4B 


CHAPTER    XXX. 

MARIA  THEBSSA. 
Feom  1T59  TO  1780. 
DaoLATioNS  of  War. — Dibabterb  of  Prussia. — Despondency  of  Fbkdkbio.'^ 
Dkath  of  the  Empbesb  Elizabeth. — Accession  of  Paul  III. — Absassinatioii 
OF  Paul  III. — Acoebsion  of  Cathaeine.— Dibcomfitube  of  thb  Aubtbiaks.— 
Treaty  of  Peace. — Election  of  Joseph  to  the  Thbone  of  the  Empibe. — Death 
OF  Fbancis. — Charaoteb  of  Fbanoib. — Anecdotes. — Energy  of  Mabia  Thb- 
bbba.— PONIATOWSKL— PaBTITION  OF  POLAND. — MaBIA  ThEBBBA  AS  A  MOTEOB. 

—Wab  with  Bavabia. — Peace. — Death  of  Mabia  Theresa. — ^Faxtlt  of  ran 
Ekpbbss. — AooESSiON  OF  Joseph  II. — Hib  Chabactbb. 438 


CHAPTER    XXXI. 

JOSEPH    II.    AND    LEOPOLD    II. 

From  1780  to  1792. 

AooEBSiON  ofJoaepb  II. — HiB  Plan?  of  Reform.— Pius  VI.— Emahoifatioh  f» 
THB  Serfs. — Joseph's  Visit  to  his  SlsTeb,  Mabia  Antoinette.— Ambitioub  D»> 
UONB. — The  Imperial  Sleigh  Ride. — Barges  on  the  Dneisteb. — Esoubsiok 
TO  the  Crimea. — Wab  with  Turkey. — Defeat  of  the  Austeians.— Great  8uo- 
OE8SB8.— Dbath  of  Jobbph.— Hb  Chabaotbb. — Accession  of  Lxopold  IL— Hib 
Effobtb  to  confirm  Despotism. — The  French  Revolution. — European  Coali- 
tion.— Death  of  Leopold. — Hk  Prcftioacy. — Accession  of  Fbanoib  IL — Pbss- 

■HT  EXTZHT  ASO  POWSB   OF  AuBTBU^—ItS    ABMT.— PoUOT   OF   TBB  OOTKBB- 

408 


IVi  OONTENTA. 


CHAPTER   XXXIL 

▲  trSTBIA    AND    THE    FRENCH    EEVOLUTION8. 
Fbom  1792  TO  W60. 

ACX3E88ION  OF  FEANOI8  II.— CAMPAIGNS  AGAIM8T    NAPOLEON.— THE    ITALIAN    RB- 

ptmuos.— Thb  KiNai>OM  of  Italy.  —  Hostility  of  England  to  the  Fbbnos 
Revolution.— Thb  Downfall  of  Napoleon,  aitd  Consequent  Downfall  of 
Fbee  Institutions  THitouonour  Europe.  — The  Congkess  op  Vienna.  — Ex- 
pulsion of  theBoubbons  fbom  Fbanoe.  —  Restokation  of  the  Empire  undeb 
Louis  Napoleon.— Revolutions  theoughout  Eubope.  —  hunoabian  Revolu- 
tion.—Russian  Intebvention.  — Fall  OF  HUNGABY.— LiBEBATioN  OF  Italy.— 
Pkbbent  Pbospkcts SOS 

APPENDIX. 
THE  NBW  CONSTITUTION,  AND  SEPARATION  FROM  GERMANY. 

The  Rbichsbath  traksfobmkd  into  a  National  LEGisLATnBE.  —  Thb 
"  Path  of  Constitutionalism."  —  Jealousy  between  Austria  and 
Prussia.  —  War  with  Denmark.  —  Quarrel  between  Austria  and 
Prussia  about  Sohlbswig-Holstein.  —  Alliance  between  Prussia 
AND  Italy. —  The  Six  Weeks'  War  and  Sadowa.  —  Italy  gains  Venb- 
tia.  —  Austria  loses  her  Place  in  Germany.  —  The  Path  op  Consti- 
tutionalism ONCB  MOBK.  —  RBOONCILIATION  OF  HUNGABT.  —  BOSNIA  AND 

HaazieoYiiiiA t.i • US 


LIST  GF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


AUSTRIA 


Frontispiece — Kossuth 
The  Quay,  Vienna 
Franz  Joseph 
Elizabeth  Bridge 


THE  EMPIRE  OF  AUSTRIA, 


CHAPTER    I 

RHODOLPH     OF    HAPSB0S9 
From  1232  to  1291. 

Bawk's  Oastlb.— Albeet,  Count  op  HAPsauRa.— Rhodolph  op  Hap8bub».- 
Mabbiasb  and  E8TATK8.— Excommunioation  and  its  Results.— His  Pbinotplm 
OP  HoNOE.— A  CoNPEDBEAOY  OP  Baeons.— Thkie  Routb.— Rhodolph's  Elbotioh 
AS  Empebob  op  Gbrmant.— The  Bishop's  Waenino.— Dissatisfaction  at  thb 
Result  op  the  Election. — Advantages  aooettino  feom  the  Possession  op  ah 
snteeestinq  Family. — Conquest. — Ottooab  acknowledges  the  Emperob;  t«t 
BREAKS  HIS  Oath  op  Allkoianoe.— Gathering  Clouds.— Wondbbpul  Escape.— 
VioTOBT  op  Rhodolph. — His  Reforms. 

IN  the  small  canton  of  Aargau,  in  Switzerland,  on  a  rocky 
bluff  of  the  Wulpelsberg,  there  still  remains  an  old  baronial 
castle,  called  Hapsburg,  or  Hawk's  Castle.  It  was  reared  in 
the  eleventh  century,  and  was  occupied  by  a  succession  of 
warlike  barons,  who  have  left  nothing  to  distinguish  them- 
selves from  the  feudal  lords  whose  castles,  at  that  peiiod, 
frowned  upon  almost  every  eminence  of  Europe.  In  the 
year  1232  this  castle  was  occupied  by  Albert,  fourth  Count 
of  Hapsburg,  He  had  acquired  some  little  reputation  for 
military  prowess,  the  only  reputation  any  one  could  acquire 
in  that  dark  age,  and  became  ambitious  of  winning  new  lau- 
rels in  the  war  with  the  infidels  in  the  holy  land.  Religious 
fanaticism  and  military  ambition  were  then  the  two  great 
powers  which  ruled  the  human  soul. 

With  the  usual  display  of  semi-barbaric  pomp,  Albert  made 
arrangements  to  leave  his  castle  to  engage  in  the  perilous 
holy  war  against  the  Saracens,  from  which  few  ever  returned. 
A  few  years  were  employed  in  the  necessary  preparations. 
At  the  sound  of  the  bogle  the  nortcullis  was  raised,  the  dr&W' 

i* 


iC  THE     HOUSE     OF     AUSTRIA. 

bridge  spanned  the  moat,  and  Albert,  at  the  head  of  thirty 
steel-clad  warriors,  with  nodding  plumes,  and  banners  un- 
furled, emerged  from  the  castle,  and  proceeded  to  the  neigh- 
boring convent  of  Mari.  His  wife,  Hedwige,  and  their 
three  sons,  Rhodolph,  Albert  and  Hartman,  accompanied 
him  to  the  chapel  where  the  ecclesiastics  awaited  his  arrivaL 
A  multitude  of  vassals  crowded  around  to  witness  the  im- 
posing ceremonies  of  the  church,  as  the  banners  were  blessed 
and  the  knights,  after  having  received  the  sacrament  of  the 
Lord's  Supper,  were  commended  to  the  protection  of  God. 
Albert  felt  the  solemnity  of  the  hour,  and  in  solemn  tone0 
gave  his  farewell  address  to  his  children. 

"My  sons,"  said  the  steel-clad  warrior,  "cultivate  truth 
and  piety ;  give  no  ear  to  evil  counselors,  never  engage  in 
unnecessary  war,  but  when  you  are  involved  in  war  be  strong 
and  brave.  Love  peace  even  better  than  your  own  personal 
interests.  Remember  that  the  counts  of  Hapsburg  did  not 
attain  their  heights  of  reputation  and  glory  by  fraud,  inso- 
lence or  selfishness,  but  by  courage  and  devotion  to  the 
public  weal.  As  long  as  you  follow  their  footsteps,  you  wiD 
not  only  retain,  but  augment,  the  possessions  and  dignities 
of  your  illustrious  ancestors," 

The  tears  and  sobs  of  his  wife  and  family  interrupted  him 
while  he  uttered  these  parting  words.  The  bugles  then 
sounded.  The  knights  mounted  their  horses;  the  clatter  of 
hoofs  was  heard,  and  the  glittering  cavalcade  soon  disappeared 
m  the  forest.  Albert  had  left  his  ancestral  castle,  never  to  re- 
turn. He  had  but  just  arrived  in  Palestine,  when  he  was 
taken  sick  at  Askalon,  and  died  in  the  year  1240. 

Rhodolph,  his  eldest  son,  was  twenty-two  years  of  age  at 
the  time  of  his  father's  death.  Frederic  IL,  one  of  the  most 
renowned  raonarchs  of  the  middle  ages,  was  then  Emperor  of 
that  conglc  meration  of  heterogeneous  States  called  Germany. 
Each  of  these  States  had  its  own  independent  ruler  and  laws, 
but  they  were  all  held  together  by  a  common  bond  for  mutual 


BHODOLPH     OF     HAPSBITBO  10 

protection,  and  some  one  illustrious  sovereign  was  chosen  aa 
Emperor  of  Germany,  to  preside  over  their  common  affairs. 
The  Emperor  of  Germany,  having  influence  over  all  these 
States,  was  consequently,  in  position,  the  great  man  of  the 
age. 

Albert,  Count  of  Hapsburg,  had  been  one  of  the  favorite 
captains  of  Frederic  II.  in  the  numerous  wars  which  desolated 
Europe  in  that  dark  age.  He  was  often  at  court,  and  the  em- 
peror even  condescended  to  present  his  son  Rhodolph  at  the 
font  for  baptism.  As  the  child  grew,  he  was  trained  to  all 
athletic  feats,  riding  ungovernable  horses,  throwing  the  jave- 
lin, wrestling,  running,  and  fencing.  He  early  gave  indica- 
tions of  surprising  mental  and  bodily  vigor,  and,  at  an  age 
when  most  lads  are  considered  merely  children,  he  accom- 
panied his  father  to  the  camp  and  to  the  court.  Upon  the 
death  of  his  father,  Rhodolph  inherited  the  ancestral  castle, 
and  the  moderate  possessions  of  a  Swiss  baron.  He  was  sur- 
rounded by  barons  of  far  greater  wealth  and  power  than  him- 
self, and  his  proud  spirit  was  roused,  in  disregard  of  his  father's 
counsels,  to  aggrandize  his  fortunes  by  force  of  arms,  the  only 
way  then  by  which  wealth  and  power  could  be  attained.  He 
exhausted  his  revenues  by  maintaining  a  princely  establish- 
ment, organized  a  well-selected  band  of  his  vassals  into  a  mili- 
tary corps,  which  he  drilled  to  a  state  of  perfect  discipline, 
and  then  commenced  a  series  of  incursions  upon  his  neighbors. 
From  some  feeble  barons  he  won  territory,  thus  extending  his 
domains ;  from  others  he  extorted  money,  thus  enabling  him 
to  reward  his  troops,  and  to  add  to  their  number  by  engaging 
fearless  spirits  in  his  service  wherever  he  could  find  them. 

In  the  year  1245,  Rhodolph  strengthened  himself  still 
more  by  an  advantageous  marriage  with  Gertrude,  the  beau- 
tiful daughter  of  the  Count  of  Hohenberg.  With  his  bride  he 
received  as  her  dowry  the  castle  of  Oeltingen,  and  very  con- 
siderable territorial  possessions.  Thus  in  five  years  Rhodolph, 
by  that  species  of  robbery  which  was  then  called  heroic  ad 


9D  TBB     BOUSE     OF     AVSTBIA. 

vent  ire,  and  by  a  fortunate  marriage,  had  more  than  doubled 
his  jereditary  inheritance.  The  charms  of  his  bride,  and  the 
care  of  his  estates  seem  for  a  few  years  to  have  arrested  the 
progress  of  his  ambition ;  for  we  can  find  no  turther  notice  d 
him  among  the  ancient  chronicles  for  eight  years.  But,  with 
almost  all  men,  love  is  an  ephemeral  passion,  which  is  event* 
ually  vanquished  by  other  powers  of  the  soul.  Ambition  slum- 
bered for  a  little  time,  but  was  soon  roused  anew,  invigorated 
by  repose. 

In  1263  we  find  Rhodolph  heading  a  foray  of  steel-clad 
Unights,  with  their  banded  followers,  in  a  midnight  attack 
upon  the  city  of  Basle.  They  break  over  all  the  defenses, 
eweep  all  opposition  before  them,  and  in  the  fury  of  the  fight, 
either  by  accident  or  as  a  necessity  of  war,  sacrilegiously  s^ 
fire  to  a  nunnery.  For  this  ciime  Rhodolph  was  excommu- 
nicated by  the  pope.  Excommunication  was  then  no  farce. 
There  were  few  who  dared  to  serve  a  prince  upon  whom  the 
denunciations  of  the  Church  had  fallen.  It  was  a  stunning 
blow,  from  which  few  men  could  recover.  Rhodolph,  instead 
of  sinking  in  despair,  endeavored,  by  new  acts  of  obedience 
and  devotion  to  the  Church,  to  obtain  the  revocation  of  the 
sentence. 

In  the  region  now  called  Prussia,  there  was  then  a  barbario 
pagan  race,  against  whom  the  pope  had  published  a  crusade. 
Into  this  war  the  excommunicated  Rhodolph  plunged  with  a8 
the  impetuosity  of  his  nature ;  he  resolved  to  work  out  abaot 
lution,  by  converting,  with  all  the  potency  of  fire  and  sword, 
the  barbarians  to  the  Church.  His  penitence  and  zeal  seem  to 
have  been  accepted,  for  we  soon  find  him  on  good  terms  again 
with  the  pope.  He  now  sought  to  have  a  hand  in  every  quar> 
rel,  &r  and  near.  Wherever  the  sounds  of  war  are  raised, 
the  shout  of  Rhodolph  is  heard  urging  to  the  strife.  In  every 
hot  and  fiery  foray,  the  steed  of  Rhodolph  is  rearing  and 
plunging,  and  his  saber  strokes  Ml  in  linging  blows  upon 
ooirass  and  helmet.     He  efficiently  aided  the  city  of  Strafr 


BHODOLPH     OF     HAPSBURO.  11 

lK>urg  in  tbeir  war  against  their  bishop,  and  received  from 
them  in  gratitude  extensive  territories,  while  at  the  same  time 
they  reared  a  monument  to  his  name,  portions  of  which  still 
exist.  His  younger  brother  died,  leaving  an  only  daughter, 
Anne,  with  a  large  inheritance.  Rhodolph,  as  her  guardian, 
came  into  possession  of  the  counties  of  Kyburg,  Lentzburg 
and  Baden,  and  other  scattered  domains. 

This  rapidly-increasing  wealth  and  power,  did  but  increase 
his  energy  and  his  spirit  of  encroachment.  And  yet  he 
adopted  principles  of  honor  which  were  far  from  common  in 
that  age  of  barbaric  violence.  He  would  never  stoop  to  or- 
dinary robbery,  or  harass  peasants  and  helpless  travelers,  as 
was  constantly  done  by  the  turbulent  barons  around  him. 
His  warfare  was  against  the  castle,  never  against  the  cottage. 
He  met  in  arms  the  panoplied  knight,  never  the  timid  and 
crouching  peasant.  He  swept  the  roads  of  the  banditti  by 
which  they  were  infested,  and  often  espoused  the  cause  of  citi- 
zens and  freemen  against  the  turbulent  barons  and  haughty 
prelates.  He  thus  gained  a  wide-spread  reputation  for  justice, 
as  well  as  for  prowess,  and  the  name  of  Rhodolph  of  Haps- 
burg  was  ascending  fast  into  renown.  Every  post  of  author- 
ity then  required  the  agency  of  a  military  arm.  The  feeble 
cantons  would  seek  the  protection  of  a  powerful  chief;  the 
citizens  of  a  wealthy  town,  ever  liable  to  be  robbed  by  bishop 
or  baron,  looked  around  for  some  warrior  who  had  invincible 
troops  at  his  command  for  their  protection.  Thus  Rhodolph 
of  Hapsburg  was  chosen  chief  of  the  mountaineers  of  Uri, 
Schweitz  and  Underwalden  ;  and  all  their  trained  bands  were 
ready,  when  his  bugle  note  echoed  through  their  defiles,  to 
follow  him  unquestioning,  and  to  do  his  bidding.  The  citizens 
of  Zurich  chose  Rhodolph  of  Hapsburg  as  their  prefect  or 
mayor  ;  and  whenever  his  banner  was  unfurled  in  their  streets, 
all  the  troops  of  the  city  were  at  his  command. 

The  neighboring  barons,  alarmed  at  this  rapid  aggrandize- 
ment of  Rhodolph,  formed  an  alliance  to  crush  him.     The 


n  THE     HOUSE     OF     AIT8TEIA. 

mountaineers  heard  his  bugle  call,  and  rushed  to  his  aid. 
Zurich  opened  her  gates,  and  her  marshaled  troops  hastened 
to  his  banner.  From  Hapsburg,  and  Rheinfelden,  and  Sua- 
bia,  and  Brisgau,  and  we  know  not  how  many  other  of  the 
territorial  possessions  of  the  count,  the  vassals  rushed  to  the 
aid  of  their  lord.  They  met  in  one  of  the  valleys  of  Zurich. 
The  battle  was  short,  and  the  confederated  barons  were  put 
to  utter  flight.  Some  took  refuge  in  the  strong  castle  of 
Balder,  upon  a  rocky  cliff  washed  by  the  Albis.  Rhodol^ 
selected  thirty  horsemen  and  thirty  footmen. 

"  Will  you  follow  me,"  said  he,  "  in  an  enterprise  where 
the  honor  will  be  equal  to  the  peril  ?** 

A  universal  shout  of  assent  was  the  response.  Concealing 
the  footmen  in  a  thicket,  he,  at  the  head  of  thirty  horsemen, 
rode  boldly  to  the  gates  of  the  castle,  bidding  defiance,  with 
all  the  utterances  and  gesticulations  of  contempt,  to  the  whole 
garrison.  Those  on  the  ramparts,  stung  by  the  insult,  rushed 
out  to  chastise  so  impudent  a  challenge.  The  footmen  rose 
from  their  ambush,  and  assailants  and  assailed  rushed  pell 
mell  in  at  the  open  gates  of  the  castle.  The  garrison  were  cut 
down  or  taken  captive,  and  the  fortress  demolished.  Another 
party  had  fled  to  the  castle  of  Uttleberg.  By  an  ingenious 
stratagem,  this  castle  was  also  taken.  Success  succeeded  suc- 
cess with  such  rapidity,  that  the  confederate  barons,  struck 
with  consternation,  exclaimed, 

"  All  opposition  is  fruitless.  Rhodolph  of  Hapsburg  is  in- 
vincible." 

They  consequently  dissolved  the  alliance,  and  sought  peace 
on  teims  which  vastly  augmented  the  power  of  the  conqueror. 

Basle  now  incurred  the  displeasure  of  Rhodolph.  He  led 
his  armies  to  the  gates  of  the  city,  and  extorted  satisfecticm. 
The  Bishop  of  Basle,  a  haughty  prelate  of  great  military  power, 
and  who  could  summon  many  barons  to  his  aid,  ventured  to 
make  arrogant  demands  of  this  warrior  flushed  with  victory. 
The  palace  and  vast  possessions  of  the  bishop  were  upon  the 


BBODOLPB    OF    BAPSBITBO.  W 

other  ^de  of  the  unbridged  Rhine,  and  the  bishop  imagined 
that  he  ooold  easily  prevent  the  passage  of  the  river.  But 
^iodoI{^  speedily  constructed  a  bndge  of  boats,  pot  to  flight 
the  troops  which  opposed  his  passage,  drove  the  peasants  of 
Uie  bishop  everywhere  before  him,  and  burned  their  cottages 
and  their  fields  of  grain.  The  bishop,  appafled,  sued  for  a  tmcei 
that  they  might  negotiat«$  terms  of  peace.  Bhodolph  coo* 
aented,  and  encamped  his  followers. 

He  was  asleep  in  his  tent,  when  a  messenger  entered  at 
midnight,  awoke  him,  and  informed  him  that  he  was  elected 
Emperor  of  Germany.  The  previous  emperor,  Richard,  had 
died  two  years  before,  and  after  an  interr^nnm  of  two  yeart 
of  almost  unparalleled  anarchy,  the  electors  had  just  met,  and, 
almost  to  their  own  surprise,  through  the  flnctuaticHis  and 
combinations  of  political  intrigue,  had  chosen  Rhodolph  of 
Hapsburg  as  his  successor.  Rhodolph  himself  was  so  mu(^ 
astonished  at  the  announcement,  that  for  some  time  he  oould 
not  be  persuaded  that  the  intelligence  was  correct. 

To  wage  war  against  the  Emperor  of  Germany,  who  could 
lead  almost  countless  thousands  into  the  field,  was  a  very  di£ 
ferent  afiair  from  measuring  strength  with  the  comparatively 
feeble  Count  of  Hapsburg.  The  news  of  his  election  flew  rap- 
idly. Basle  threw  open  her  gates,  and  the  citizens,  with  illu- 
minations, shouts,  and  the  ringing  of  bells,  greeted  the  new 
emperor.  The  bishop  was  so  chagrined  at  the  elevation  of  his 
foe,  that  he  smote  his  forehead,  and,  looking  to  heaven,  pro- 
fanely said, 

*•  Great  God,  take  care  of  your  tnrone,  or  Rhodolph  oi 
Hapsburg  will  take  it  from  you  1" 

Rhodolph  was  now  fifty-five  years  of  age.  ^Iphonso,  King 
of  Castile,  and  Ottocar,  King  of  Bohemia,  had  both  been  can- 
didates for  the  imperial  crown.  Exasperated  by  the  unex- 
pected election  of  Rhodolph,  they  both  refiised  to  acknowledge 
ins  election,  and  sent  ambassadors  with  rich  presents  to  the 
pope  to  win  him  also  to  their  side.     Rhodolph,  justly  appro- 


24  THE     HOUSE     OF     AUSTRIA. 

elating  the  power  of  the  pope,  sent  him  a  letter  eouched  in 
those  terms  which  would  be  most  palatable  to  the  pontiflF. 

"  Turning  all  my  thoughts  to  Him,"  he  wrote,  "  under 
whose  authority  we  live,  and  placing  all  my  expectations  on 
you  alone,  I  fall  down  before  the  feet  of  your  Holiness,  be. 
seeching  you,  with  the  most  earnest  supplication,  to  favor  me 
with  your  accustomed  kindness  in  my  present  undertaking ; 
and  that  you  will  deign,  by  your  mediation  with  the  Most 
High,  to  support  my  cause.  That  I  may  be  enabled  to  per 
form  what  is  most  acceptable  to  God  and  to  His  holy  Church, 
may  it  graciously  please  your  Holiness  to  crown  me  with  the 
imperial  diadem ;  for  I  trust  I  am  both  able  and  willing  to 
undertake  and  accomplish  whatever  you  and  the  holy  Church 
shall  think  proper  to  impose  upon  me." 

Gregory  X.  was  a  humane  and  sagacious  man,  influenced 
by  a  profound  zeal  for  the  peace  of  Europe  and  the  propaga* 
tion  of  the  Christian  faith,  Gregory  received  the  ambassadors 
of  Rhodolph  graciously,  extorted  from  them  whatever  conces- 
sions he  desired  on  the  part  of  the  emperor,  and  pledged  his 
support. 

Ottocar,  King  of  Bohemia,  still  remained  firm,  and  even 
malignant,  in  his  hostility,  utterly  refusing  to  recognize  the 
emperor,  or  to  perform  any  of  those  acts  of  fealty  which  were 
his  due.  He  declared  the  electoral  diet  to  have  been  illegally 
convened,  and  the  election  to  have  been  the  result  of  fraud, 
and  that  a  man  who  had  been  excommunicated  for  burning 
a  convent,  was  totally  unfit  to  wear  the  imperial  crown. 
The  diet  met  at  Augsburg,  and  irritated  by  the  contumacy 
of  Ottocar,  sent  a  command  to  him  to  recognize  the  au 
thority  of  the  emperor,  pronouncing  upon  him  the  ban  of 
the  empire  should  he  refuse.  Ottocar  dismissed  the  ambas. 
sadors  with  defiance  and  contempt  from  his  palace  at  Prague, 
saying, 

"  Tell  Rhodolph  that  he  may  rule  over  the  territories  of 
the  empire,  but  he  shall  have  no  dominion  over  mine.     It  is  a 


RHODOLPH     OF     HAP8BUR6.  26 

disgrace  to  Geruiany,  that  a  petty  cou^t  of  Hapsburg  should 
have  been  preferred  to  so  many  powerftil  sovereigns.** 

War,  and  a  fearful  one,  was  now  inevitable.  Ottocar  was 
a  veteran  soldier,  a  man  of  great  intrepidity  and  energy,  and 
his  pride  was  thoioughly  roused.  By  a  long  series  of  aggres- 
sions he  had  become  the  most  powerful  prince  in  Europe,  and 
he  could  lead  the  most  powerful  armies  into  the  field.  EBs 
dominions  extended  from  the  confines  of  Bavaria  to  Raab  in 
Hungary,  and  from  the  Adriatic  to  the  shores  of  the  Baltic. 
The  hereditary  domains  of  the  Count  of  Hapsburg  were  com- 
paratively insignificant,  and  were  remotely  situated  at  the  foot 
of  the  Alps,  spreading  through  the  defiles  of  Alsace  and  Sua- 
bia.  As  emperor,  Rhodolph  could  call  the  armies  of  the  Ger- 
manic princes  into  the  field  ;  but  these  princes  moved  reluc- 
tantly, unless  roused  by  some  question  of  great  moment  to 
them  all.  And  when  these  heterogeneous  troops  of  the  empii*© 
were  assembled,  there  was  but  a  slender  bond  of  union  between 
them. 

But  Rhodolph  possessed  mental  resources  equal  to  the 
emergence.  As  cautious  as  he  was  bold,  as  sagacious  in  coun- 
cil as  he  was  impetuous  in  action,  he  calmly,  and  with  great 
foresight  and  deliberation,  prepared  for  the  strife.  To  a  mon- 
arch in  such  a  time  of  need,  a  family  of  brave  sons  and  beau- 
tiful daughtei-s,  is  an  inestimable  blessing.  Rhodolph  secured 
the  Duke  of  Sclavonia  by  making  him  the  happy  husband  of 
one  of  his  daughters.  His  son  Albert  married  Elizabeth, 
daughter  of  the  Count  of  Tyrol,  and  thus  that  powerful  and 
noble  family  was  secured.  Henry  of  Bavaria  he  intimidated, 
and  by  force  of  arms  compelled  him  to  lead  his  tioops  to  the 
standard  of  the  emperor ;  and  then,  to  secure  his  fidelity,  gave 
His  daughter  Hedwige  to  Henry's  son  Otho,  in  marriage, 
promising  to  his  daughter  as  a  dowry  a  portion  of  Austria, 
which  was  then  a  feeble  duchy  upon  the  Danube,  but  little 
larger  than  the  State  of  Massachusetts. 

Ottocar  was  but  Httle  aware  of  the  tremendous  energiea 


26  THE     HOUSE     OF     AUSTRIA. 

of  the  foe  he  had  aroue:.d.  Regarding  Rhodolph  almosi  with 
contempt,  he  had  by  no  means  made  the  arrangements  which 
his  peril  demanded,  and  was  in  consternation  when  he  heard 
that  Rhodolph,  in  alliance  with  Henry  of  Bavaria,  had  already 
entered  Austria,  taken  possession  of  several  fortresses,  and,  at 
the  head  of  a  force  of  a  thousand  horsemen,  was  carrying  all 
before  him,  and  was  triumphantly  marching  upon  Vienna. 
Rhodolph  had  so  admirably  matured  his  plans,  that  his  ad- 
vance seemed  rather  a  festive  journey  than  a  contested  con- 
quest. With  the  utmost  haste  Ottocar  urged  his  troops  down 
through  the  defiles  of  the  Bohemian  mountains,  hoping  to  save 
the  capital.  But  Rhodolph  was  at  Vienna  before  him,  where 
he  was  joined  by  others  of  his  allies,  who  were  to  meet  him 
at  that  rendezvous.  Vienna,  the  capital,  was  a  fortress  of 
great  strength.  Upon  this  frontier  post  Charlemagne  had  es- 
tablished a  strong  body  of  troops  under  a  commander  who 
was  called  a  margrave  ;  and  for  some  centuries  this  city,  com- 
manding the  Danube,  had  been  deemed  one  of  the  strongest 
defenses  of  the  empire  against  Mohammedan  invasion.  Vi- 
enna, unable  to  resist,  capitulated.  The  army  of  Ottocar  had 
been  so  driven  in  their  long  and  diflicult  march,  that,  exhausted 
and  perishing  for  want  of  provisions,  they  began  to  mutiny. 
The  pope  had  excommunicated  Ottocar,  and  the  terrors  of  the 
curse  of  the  pope,  were  driving  captains  and  nobles  from  his 
service.  The  proud  spirit  of  Ottocar,  after  a  terrible  struggle, 
was  utterly  crushed,  and  he  humbly  sued  for  peace.  The 
terms  were  hard  for  a  haughty  spirit  to  bear.  The  conquered 
king  was  compelled  to  renounce  all  claim  to  Austria  and  sev- 
eral other  adjoining  provinces,  Styria,  Carinthia,  Carniola  and 
Windischmark  ;  to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  emperor, 
and  publicly  to  do  him  homage  as  his  vassal  lord.  To  cement 
this  compulsory  friendship,  Rhodolph,  who  was  rich  in  daugh- 
ters, having  six  to  proffer  as  bribes,  gave  one,  with  an  abun- 
dant dowry  in  silver,  to  a  son  of  Ottocar. 

The  day  was  appointed  for  the  king,  in  the  presence  of  the 


BHODOLPH     OP     HAPSBITRG.  W 

wbole  army,  to  do  homage  to  the  emperor  as  his  liege  lord. 
It  was  the  26th  of  November,  1276.  With  a  large  escort  of 
Bohemian  nobles,  Ottocar  crossed  the  Danube,  and  was  re- 
ceived by  the  emperor  in  the  presence  of  many  of  the  leading 
princes  of  the  empire.  The  whole  army  was  drawn  up  to  wit- 
nefw  the  spectacle.  With  a  dejected  countenance,  and  with 
indications,  which  he  could  not  conceal,  of  a  crushed  and 
broken  spirit,  Ottocar  renounced  these  valuable  provinces,  and 
kneeling  before  the  emperor,  performed  the  humiliating  cere- 
mony of  feudal  homage.  The  pope  in  consequence  withdrew 
his  sentence  of  excommunication,  and  Ottocar  returned  to  hig 
mutilated  kingdom,  a  humbler  and  a  wiser  man. 

Rhodolph  now  took  possession  of  the  adjacent  provinces 
which  had  been  ceded  to  him,  and,  uniting  them,  placed  them 
under  the  government  of  Louis  of  Bavaria,  son  of  his  firm 
ally  Henry,  the  King  of  Bavaria.  Bavaria  bounded  Austria 
on  the  west,  and  thus  the  father  and  the  son  would  be  in  easy 
cooperation.  He  then  established  his  three  sons,  Albei*t, 
Hartmaun,  and  Rhodolph,  in  different  parts  of  these  provinces^ 
and,  with  his  queen,  fixed  his  residence  at  Vienna. 

Such  was  the  nucleus  of  the  Austrian  empire,  and  such 
the  commencement  of  the  powerful  monarchy  which  Ibr  so 
many  generations  has  exerted  so  important  a  control  over 
the  affairs  of  Europe.  Ottocar,  however,  though  he  left 
Rhodolph  with  the  strongest  protestations  of  friendship,  re- 
turned to  Prague  consumed  by  the  most  torturing  fires  o5 
humiliation  and  chagrin.  His  wife,  a  haughty  woman,  who 
was  incapable  of  listening  to  the  voice  of  judgment  when  her 
passions  were  inflamed,  could  not  conceive  it  possible  that  a 
petty  count  of  Hapsburg  could  vanquish  her  renowned  has- 
oand  in  the  field.  And  when  she  heard  that  Ottocar  had  ac- 
tually done  fealty  to  Rhodolph,  and  had  surrendered  to  him 
valuable  provinces  of  the  kingdom,  no  bridle  could  be  pa» 
npon  her  woman's  tongue.  She  almost  stung  her  husband  ta 
madness  with  taunts  and  reproachea 


88  THE     HOUSE     OF     AUSTRIA. 

Thus  influenced  by  the  pride  of  his  queen,  Cunegunda,  Ofc 
tocar  violated  his  oath,  refused  to  execute  the  treaty,  impris 
oned  in  a  convent  the  daughter  whom  Rhodolph  had  given  to 
his  son,  and  sent  a  defiant  and  insulting  letter  to  the  emperor, 
Rhodolph  returned  a  dignified  answer  and  prepared  for  war, 
Ottocar,  now  better  understanding  the  power  of  his  foe,  made 
the  most  formidable  preparations  for  the  strife,  and  soon  took 
the  field  with  an  army  which  he  supposed  would  certainly  tri- 
umph over  any  force  which  Rhodolph  could  raise.  He  even 
succeeded  in  drawing  Henry  of  Bavaria  into  an  alliance ;  and 
many  of  the  Grerman  princes,  whom  he  could  not  win  to  his 
st-judard,  he  bribed  to  neutrality.  Numerous  chieftains,  lured 
to  his  camp  by  confidence  of  victory,  crowded  around  him 
with  their  followers,  fi'om  Poland,  Bulgaria,  Pomerania,  Mag- 
deburg, and  from  the  barbaiic  shores  of  the  Baltic.  Many  of 
the  fierce  nobles  of  Hungary  had  also  joined  the  standard  of 
Ottocar. 

Thus  suddenly  clouds  gathered  around  Rhodolph,  and 
many  of  his  friends  despaired  of  his  cause.  He  appealed  to 
the  princes  of  the  German  empire,  and  but  few  responded  to 
his  call.  His  sons-in-law,  the  Electors  of  Palatine  and  of  Sax- 
ony, ventured  not  to  aid  him  in  an  emergence  when  defeat 
seemed  almost  certain,  and  where  all  who  shared  in  the  defeat 
would  be  utterly  ruined.  In  June,  1275,  Ottocar  marched 
from  Prague,  met  his  allies  at  the  appointed  rendezvous,  an^ 
threading  the  defiles  of  the  Bohemian  mountains,  approaches? 
the  frontiers  of  Austria.  Rhodolph  was  seriously  alarmed 
for  it  was  evident  that  the  chances  of  war  were  against  him 
He  could  not  conceal  the  restlessness  and  agitation  of  his  spirit 
as  he  impatiently  awaited  the  arrival  of  troops  whom  he  sum- 
moned, but  who  disappointed  his  hopes. 

"  I  have  not  one,"  he  sadly  exclaimed,  "  in  whom  I  oaa 
confide,  or  on  whose  advice  I  can  depend." 

The  citizens  of  Vienna  perceiving  that  Rhodolph  was  aban- 
doned by  his  German  allies,  and  that  they  could  present  no 


RHODOLPH      OP      HAPSBURO.  2fi 

jSsctaal  resistaLce  to  so  powerful  an  army  as  was  approach 
ing,  and  terrified  in  view  of  a  siege,  and  the  capture  of  the 
city  by  storm,  urged  a  capitulation,  and  even  begged  permis- 
sion to  choose  a  new  sovereign,  that  they  might  not  be  in- 
volved in  the  ruin  impending  over  Rhodolph.  This  address 
roused  Rhodolph  from  his  despondency,  and  inspired  him  with 
the  energies  of  despair.  He  had  succeeded  in  obtaininpf  n  few 
troops  from  his  provinces  in  Switzerland.  The  Bishop  ot 
Baele,  who  had  now  become  his  confessor,  came  to  his  aid,  at 
the  head  of  a  hundred  horsemen,  and  a  body  of  expert  sling- 
ers.  Rhodolph,  though  earnestly  advised  not  to  undertake  a 
battle  with  such  desperate  odds,  marched  from  Vienna  to  meet 
the  foe. 

Rapidy  traversing  the  southern  banks  of  the  Danube  to 
Hamburg,  he  crossed  the  river  and  advanced  to  Marcheck,  on 
the  banks  of  the  Morava.  He  was  joined  by  some  troops 
from  Styria  and  Carinthia,  and  by  a  strong  force  led  by  the 
King  of  Hungary.  Emboldened  by  these  accessions,  though 
still  far  inferior  in  strength  to  Ottocar,  he  pressed  on  till  the 
two  armies  faced  each  other  on  the  plains  of  Murchfield.  It 
was  the  26th  of  August,  1278. 

At  this  moment  some  traitors  deswting  the  camp  of  Otto- 
car, repaired  to  the  camp  of  Rhodolph  and  proposed  to  assassi- 
nate the  Bohemian  king.  Rhodolph  spurned  the  infamous 
offer,  and  embraced  the  opportunity  of  seeking  terms  of  recon- 
ciliation by  apprising  Ottocar  of  his  danger.  But  the  king, 
confident  in  his  own  strength,  and  despising  the  weakness  of 
Rhodolph,  deemed  the  story  a  fabrication  and  refused  to  Usten 
to  any  overtures.  Without  delay  he  drew  up  his  army  in  the 
form  of  a  crescent,  so  as  almost  to  envelop  the  feeble  band  be- 
fore him,  and  made  a  simultaneous  attack  upon  the  center  and 
upon  both  flanks.  A  terrific  battle  ensued,  in  which  one  party 
fought,  animated  by  undoubting  confidence,  and  the  other 
impelled  by  despair.  The  strife  was  long  and  bloody.  The 
tide  of  victory  repeatedly  ebbed  and  flowed.     Ottocar  had 


iO  THB     House     OF     AUSTBIA. 

offered  a  large  reward  to  any  of  bis  followers  who  would  bring 
to  him  Rhodolph,  dead  or  alive. 

A  number  of  knights  of  great  strength  and  bravery,  con 
federated  to  achieve  this  feat.  It  was  a  point  of  honor  to  be 
eflfected  at  every  hazard.  Disregarding  all  the  other  perils  of 
the  battle,  they  watched  their  opportunity,  and  then  in  a  nnited 
swoop,  on  their  steel-clad  chargers,  fell  upon  the  emperor. 
His  feeble  guard  was  instantly  cut  down.  Rhodolph  was  a 
man  of  herculean  power,  and  he  fought  like  a  lion  at  bay. 
One  after  another  of  his  assailants  he  struck  from  his  horse, 
when  a  Thuringian  knight,  of  almost  fabulous  stature  and 
strength,  thrust  his  spear  through  the  horse  of  the  emperor, 
and  both  steed  and  rider  fell  to  the  ground.  Rhodolph,  enoum- 
bered  by  his  heavy  coat  of  mail,  and  entangled  in  the  hous* 
ings  of  his  saddle,  was  unable  to  rise.  He  crouched  upon  the 
ground,  holding  his  helmet  over  him,  while  saber  strokes  and 
pike  thrusts  rang  upon  cuirass  and  buckler  like  blows  upon  aa 
anvil.  A  corps  of  reserve  spurred  to  his  aid,  and  the  emperor 
was  rescued,  and  the  bold  assailants  who  had  peneti*ated  the 
very  center  of  his  army  were  slain. 

The  tide  of  victory  now  set  strongly  in  favor  of  Rhodolj^ 
for  "  the  race  is  not  always  to  the  swift,  nor  the  battle  to  the 
strong."  The  troops  of  Bohemia  were  soon  everywhere  pot 
to  rout.  The  ground  was  covered  with  the  dead.  Ottocar, 
astounded  at  his  discomfiture,  and  perhaps  fearing  the  tongue 
of  his  wife  more  than  the  sabers  of  his  foes,  turned  his  back 
upon  his  flying  army,  and  spurred  his  horse  into  the  thickest 
of  his  pursuers.  He  was  soon  dismounted  and  slain.  Four- 
teen thousand  of  his  troops  perished  on  tlat  disastrous  day. 
The  body  of  Ottocar,  mutilated  with  seventeen  wounds,  was 
carried  to  Vienna,  and,  after  being  exposed  to  the  people, 
was  buried  with  regal  honors. 

Rhodolph,  vastly  enriched  by  the  plunder  of  the  camp^ 
and  having  no  enemy  to  encounter,  took  possession  of  Morar 
via,  and  triumphantly  marched  into  Bohemia.     All  was  cott 


3H0D0LPH     OF    HAPSBlTRa.  81 

•ternation  there.  The  queen  Cunegunda,  who  had  brought 
these  disasters  upon  the  kingdom,  had  no  influence.  Her 
only  son  was  but  eight  years  of  age.  The  turbulent  nobles, 
jealous  of  each  other,  had  no  recognized  leader.  The  queen, 
humiliated  and  despairing,  implored  the  clemency  of  the  con- 
queror, and  offered  to  place  her  infant  son  and  the  kingdom 
of  Bohemia  under  his  protection.  Rhodolph  was  generous  in 
this  hour  of  victory.  As  the  result  of  arbitration,  it  was 
agreed  that  he  should  hold  Moravia  for  five  years,  that  its 
revenues  might  indemnify  him  for  the  expenses  of  the  war. 
The  young  prince,  Wenceslaus,  was  acknowledged  king,  and 
during  his  minority  the  regency  was  assigned  to  Otho,  mar- 
grave or  military  commander  of  Brundenburg.  Then  ensued 
some  politic  matrimonial  alUances.  Wenceslaus,  the  boy  king, 
was  affianced  to  Judith,  one  of  the  daughters  of  Rhodolph. 
The  princess  Agnes,  daughter  of  Cunegunda,  was  to  become 
the  bride  of  Rhodolph's  second  son.  These  matters  being 
all  satisfactorily  settled,  Rhodolph  returned  in  triumph  to 
Vienna. 

The  emperor  now  devoted  his  energies  to  the  consolida- 
tion of  these  Austrian  provinces.  They  were  four  in  number, 
Austria,  Styria,  Carinthia  and  Carniola,  All  united,  they 
made  but  a  feeble  kingdom,  for  they  did  not  equal,  in  extent  of 
territory,  several  of  the  States  of  the  American  Union.  Each 
of  these  provinces  had  its  independent  government,  and  its 
local  laws  and  customs.  They  were  held  together  by  the  sim- 
ple bond  of  an  arbitrary  monarch,  who  claimed,  and  exercised 
as  he  could,  supreme  control  over  them  all.  Under  his  wise  and 
energetic  administration,  the  affairs  of  the  wide-spread  empire 
were  prosperous,  and  his  own  Austria  advanced  rapidly  in 
order,  civilization  and  power.  The  numerous  nobles,  turbu- 
lent, unprincipled  and  essentially  robbers,  had  been  in  the  habit 
of  issumg  from  their  castles  at  the  head  of  banditti  bands,  and 
ravaging  the  country  with  incessant  incursions.  It  required 
great  boldness  in  Rhodolph  to  brave  the  wrath  of  these  united 


88  TBE    HOirSB    OF    AFSTBIA. 

oobles.  He  did  it  fearlessly,  issuing  the  decree  that  tfarav 
idbould  be  no  fortresses  in  his  States  which  were  not  neeessary 
for  the  public  defense.  The  whole  country  was  spotted  with 
castles,  apparently  impregnable  in  all  the  strength  of  stone 
and  iron,  the  secure  refuge  of  high-born  nobles.  In  one  year 
seventy  of  these  tnrreted  bulwarks  of  oppression  were  tore 
down ;  and  twenty-nine  of  the  highest  nobles,  who  had  ven< 
tared  upon  insurrection,  were  put  to  death.  An  earnest  pe- 
tition was  {»«sented  to  him  in  behalf  of  the  condemned  insur 
gents. 

'*  Do  not,"  said  the  king,  "  interfere  in  &vor  of  robbers 
they  are  not  nobles,  but  accursed  robbers,  who  oppress  the 
poor,  and  break  the  public  peace.    True  nobility  is  fiuti^ 
and  just,  o^cde  no  one.^  and  oommits  no  injury*** 


CHAPTER   II. 

SRIGNS  OB  ALBERT  I,  FREDERIC,  ALBERT  AND   OTHO. 

From   1291  to  1347. 

AnoooTES  OP  Ehodolph. — Hb  Dbsirb  for  tub  Election  of  his  Son.— His  OxAra. 
— Albert. — His  Unpopulaeity. — Conspiracy  of  the  Nobles. — Twhib  Defeat  — 
Adolphtts  of  Nassau  chosen  Emperor. — Albert's  Conspiracy. — Depositiok  of 
Adolphds  and  Election  of  Albert. — Death  of  Adolphus. — The  Pope  Deitxd 
— Annexation  op  Bohemia. — Assassination  op  Albert. — Avenging  Fury. — T'ta 
Hbbhit'b  Direction. — Frederic  the  Handsome. — Election  of  Hbney,  CouNt 
of  Luxemburg. — His  Death. — Election  of  Louis  of  Bavaria. — Captub3  oi 
Frbdebic. — Ebmaekablb  Confidbnoe  toward  a  Prisoner. — Death  ov  Fbbd- 
EBia— An  barlt  Engaobmbnt. — Death  of  Louis. — Aooebsion  op  Albeit. 

T)HODOLPH  of  Hapsburg  was  one  of  the  most  remark- 
■*-*^  able  men  of  his  own  or  of  any  age,  and  many  anecdotes 
illustrative  of  his  character,  and  of  the  rude  times  in  which  he 
lived,  have  been  transmitted  to  us.  The  Thuringian  knight 
who  speared  the  emperor's  horse  in  the  bloody  fight  of  Murch- 
field,  was  rescued  by  Rhodolph  from  those  who  would  cut 
him  down. 

"  I  have  witnessed,"  said  the  emperor,  "  his  intrepidity, 
and  never  could  forgive  myself  if  so  courageous  a  knight 
should  be  put  to  death." 

During  the  war  with  Ottocar,  on  one  occasion  the  army 
were  nearly  perishing  of  thirst.  A  flagon  of  water  was 
brought  to  him.     He  declined  it,  saying, 

"  I  can  not  drink  alone,  nor  can  I  divide  so  small  a  quantity 
among  all.     I  do  not  thirst  for  myself,  but  for  the  whole  army.** 

By  earnest  endeavor  he  obtained  the  perfect  control  of  his 
passions,  naturally  very  violent.  "I  have  often,"  said  he, 
*^  repented  of  being  passionate,  bat  never  of  being  mild  and 
humane.** 


94  THE     HOUSE     OP     AUSTRIA. 

One  of  his  captains  expressed  dissatisfaction  at  a  rich  gift 
the  emperor  made  to  a  literary  man  who  presented  him  a 
manuscript  describing  the  wars  of  the  Romans.  " 

"  My  good  friend,"  Rhodolph  replied,  "  be  contented  that 
men  of  learning  praiHe  our  actions,  and  thereby  inspire  us 
with  additional  courage  in  war.  I  wish  I  could  employ  more 
time  in  reading,  and  could  expend  some  of  that  money  ou 
learned  men  which  I  must  throw  away  on  so  many  illiterate 
knights." 

One  cold  morning  at  Metz,  in  the  year  1288,  he  walked 
out  dressed  as  usual  in  the  plainest  garb.  He  strolled  into  a 
baker's  shop,  as  if  to  warm  himself  The  baker's  termagant 
wife  said  to  him,  all  unconscious  who  he  was, 

"  Soldiers  have  no  business  to  come  into  poor  women's 
houses." 

"  True,"  the  emperor  replied,  **  but  do  not  be  angry,  my 
good  woman ;  I  am  an  old  soldier  who  have  spent  all  my  for. 
tune  in  the  service  of  that  rascal  Rhodolph,  and  he  suffers  me 
to  want,  notwithstanding  aU  his  fine  promises." 

"  Good  enough  for  you,"  said  the  woman  ;  "  a  man  who 
will  serve  such  a  fellow,  who  is  laying  waste  the  whole  earth, 
deserves  nothing  better." 

She  then,  in  her  spite,  threw  a  pail  of  water  on  the  fire, 
which,  filling  the  room  with  smoke  and  ashes,  drove  the  em- 
peror into  the  street. 

Rhodolph,  having  returned  to  his  lodgings,  sent  a  rich 
present  to  the  old  woman,  fi:om  the  emperor  who  had  warmed 
himself  at  her  fire  that  morning,  and  at  the  dinner-table  told 
the  story  with  great  glee  to  his  companions.  The  woman, 
terrified,  hastened  to  the  emperor  to  implore  mercy.  He 
ordered  her  to  be  admitted  to  the  dining-room,  and  promised 
to  forgive  her  if  she  would  repeat  to  the  company  all  her 
abusive  epithets,  not  omitting  one.  She  did  it  faithfully,  to 
the  infinite  merriment  of  the  festive  group. 

So  far  as  we  can  now  judge,  and  making  due  allowance 


i 


aLBBBT  I.,  PBBDBBIC,  ALBBBt  ABD  OTHO.   SI 

rbr  the  darkness  of  the  age  in  which  he  lived,  Rhodolph  ap. 
peara  to  have  been,  in  the  latter  part  of  his  life,  a  sincere,  if 
not  an  enlightened  Christian.  He  was  devout  in  prayer,  and 
punctual  in  attending  the  services  of  the  Church.  The  bum* 
ble  and  faithful  ministers  of  religion  he  esteemed  and  pro- 
tected,  while  he  was  ever  ready  to  chastise  the  insolence  of 
those  haughty  prelates  who  disgraced  their  relierious  profes* 
eions  by  arrogance  and  splendor. 

At  last  the  infirmities  of  age  pressed  heavily  upon  hina. 
When  seventy-three  years  old,  knowing  that  he  could  not 
have  much  longer  to  live,  he  assembled  the  congress  of  elect- 
ors at  Frankfort,  and  urged  them  to  choose  his  then  only 
rurviving  son  Albert  as  his  successor  on  the  imperial  throne. 
The  diet,  however,  refused  to  choose  a  successor  until  after 
the  death  of  the  emperor.  Rhodolph  was  bitterly  disap- 
pointed, for  he  understood  this  postponement  as  a  positive 
refusal  to  gratify  him  in  this  respect.  Saddened  in  spirit,  and 
feeble  in  body,  he  undertook  a  journey,  by  slow  stages,  to  his 
hereditary  dominions  in  Switzerland.  He  then  returned  to 
Austiia,  where  he  died  on  the  15th  of  July,  1291,  in  the 
Beventy-third  year  of  his  age. 

Albert,  who  resided  at  Vienna,  succeeded  his  father  m 
authority  over  the  Austrian  and  Swiss  provinces.  But  be 
ivas  a  man  stern,  unconciliating  and  domineering.  The  nobles 
Bated  him,  and  hoped  to  drive  him  back  to  the  Swiss  cantons 
from  which  his  father  had  come.  One  great  occasion  of  dia* 
dontent  was,  that  he  employed  about  his  person,  and  in  impor- 
tant posts,  Swiss  instead  of  Austrian  nobles.  They  demanded 
the  dismission  of  these  foreign  favorites,  which  so  exasperated 
Albert  that  he  clung  to  them  still  more  tenaciously  and  ex- 
clusively. 

The  nobles  now  organized  a  very  formidable  cons^dracy, 
and  offered  to  neighboring  powers,  as  bribes  for  their  aid, 
portions  of  Austria.  Austria  proper  was  divided  by  the  rivef 
Ens  into  two  parts  called  Upper  and  Lower  Austria.    Lower 


B8  THE     HOITSK     OP      AUSTRIA 

Austria  was  oflfered  to  Bohemia ;  Styria  to  tL  e  Duke  of  B» 
varia ;  Upper  Austria  to  the  Archbishop  of  Saltzburg ;  Car 
niola  to  the  Counts  of  Guntz  ;  and  thus  all  the  provinces  were 
portioned  out  to  the  conquerors.  At  the  same  time  the  citi- 
zens  of  Vienna,  provoked  by  the  haughtiness  of  Albert,  rose 
in  insurrection.  With  the  energy  which  chaiacterized  his 
father,  Albert  met  these  emergencies.  Summoning  imme- 
diately an  army  from  Switzerland,  he  shut  up  all  the  avenues 
to  the  city,  which  was  not  in  the  slightest  degree  prepared 
for  a  siege,  and  speedily  starved  the  inhabitants  into  submis- 
sion. Punishing  severely  the  insurgents,  he  strengthened  his 
post  at  Vienna,  and  confirmed  his  power.  Then,  marching 
rapidly  upon  the  nobles,  before  they  had  time  to  receive  that 
foreign  aid  whi^ih  had  been  secretly  promised  them,  and  se- 
curing all  the  important  fortresses,  which  were  now  not  many 
in  number,  he  so  overawed  them,  and  so  vigilantly  watched 
every  movement,  that  there  was  no  opportunity  to  rise  and 
combine.  The  Styrian  nobles,  being  remote,  made  an  effort 
at  insurrection.  Albert,  though  it  was  in  the  depth  of  winter, 
plowed  through  the  snows  of  the  mountains,  and  plunging  un- 
expectedly among  them,  routed  them  with  great  slaughter. 

While  he  was  thus  conquering  discontent  by  the  sword,  and 
silencing  murmurs  beneath  the  tramp  of  iron  hoofs,  the  diet 
was  assembling  at  Frankfort  to  choose  a  new  chief  for  the 
Germanic  empire.  Albert  was  confident  of  being  raised  to 
the  vacant  dignity.  The  splendor  of  his  talents  all  admitted. 
Four  of  the  electors  were  closely  allied  to  him  by  marriage, 
and  he  arrogantly  felt  that  he  was  almost  entitled  to  the  office 
as  the  son  of  his  renowned  father.  But  the  electors  feared  hia 
ambitious  and  despotic  disposition,  and  chose  Adolphus  of 
Nassau  to  succeed  to  the  imperial  throne. 

Albert  was  mortified  and  enraged  by  this  disappointment, 
«nd  expressed  his  determination  to  oppose  the  election  ;  but 
the  troubles  in  his  own  domains  prevented  him  from  putting 
thb  threat  into  immediate  execution.     His  better  judgment 


AL6BBT    I.,    FBEDBBIC,    ALBEBT    ATTD    OTHO.        3l 

soon  taught  li  im  the  policy  of  aoquiesciog  in  the  eleotioD,  and 
he  sullenly  received  the  investiture  of  his  fiefs  from  the  hands 
of  the  Emperor  Adolphas.  Still  Albert,  struggling  against 
unpopularity  and  continued  insurrection,  kept  his  eye  fixeot 
eagerly  upon  the  imperial  crown.  With  great  tact  he  oon- 
^)ired  to  form  a  confederacy  for  the  deposition  of  Adolphua. 

Wenceslans,  the  young  King  of  Bohemia,  was  now  of 
age,  and  preparations  were  made  for  bis  coronation  with  grraft 
^>lendor  at  Prague.  Four  of  the  electors  were  present  on  this 
occasion,  which  was  in  June,  1297.  Albert  conferred  with 
tiiem  respecting  his  plans,  and  secured  their  cooperation.  The 
electors  more  willingly  lent  their  aid  since  they  were  exceed* 
ingly  displeased  with  some  of  the  measures  of  Adolphus  fbr 
the  aggrandizement  of  his  own  family.  Albert  with  secreqjT 
and  vigor  pushed  his  plans,  and  when  the  diet  met  the  sanw 
year  at  Metss,  a  long  list  of  grievances  was  drawn  up  againal 
Adolphus.  He  was  summoned  to  answer  to  these  diargeSL 
The  proud  emperor  refused  to  appear  before  the  bar  of  the 
^et  as  a  culprit.  Tlie  diet  then  deposed  AdoI{^us  and  elected 
Albert  11.  to  the  imperial  throne,  on  the  23d  of  June,  1298. 

The  two  rival  emperors  made  vigorous  preparations  to  set 
tie  the  dispute  with  the  sword,  and  the  German  States  arrayed 
themselves,  some  on  one  ade  and  some  on  the  other.  The 
two  armies  met  at  Gelheim  on  the  2d  of  July,  led  by  the  rival 
govereigos.  In  the  thickest  of  the  fight  Adolphus  spurred  his 
horse  through  the  opposing  ranks,  bearing  down  all  opposi- 
lion,  till  he  faced  Albert,  who  was  issuing  orders  and  animat- 
ing his  troops  by  voice  and  gesture. 

"  Yield,"  shouted  Adolphus,  aiming  a  saber  stroke  at  the 
head  of  his  foe,  *'  your  life  and  your  crown." 

*'  Let  God  decide,"  Albert  replied,  as  he  parried  the  blow, 
and  thrust  his  lance  into  the  unprotected  &oe  of  Adolphus. 
At  that  moment  the  horse  of  Adolphus  fell,  and  he  himself 
was  instantly  slain.  Albert  remained  the  decisive  victor  <mi 
this  bloody  field.     The  diet  of  electors  was  again  summoned, 


S8  THEHOUSEOPAirSTEIA. 

and  he  was  now  chosen  unanimously  emperor.    He  was  soon 
crowned  with  great  splendor  at  Aix-la-Chapelle. 

Still  Albert  sat  on  an  uneasy  throne.  The  pope,  indig« 
nant  that  the  electors  should  presume  to  depose  one  em- 
peror and  choose  another  without  his  consent,  refused  to  con- 
firm the  election  of  Albert,  and  loudly  inveighed  him  as  the 
murderer  of  Adolphus.  Albert,  with  characteristic  impulsive- 
ness,  declared  that  he  was  emperor  by  choice  of  the  electors 
and  not  by  ratification  of  the  pope,  and  defiantly  spumed  the 
opposition  of  the  pontifi".  Considering  himself  firmly  seated 
•n  the  throne,  he  refused  to  pay  the  bribes  of  toUs,  privileges, 
territories,  etc.,  which  he  had  so  freely  offered  to  the  electors. 
Thus  exasperated,  the  electors,  the  pope,  and  the  King  of  Bo* 
bemia,  conspired  to  drive  Albert  from  the  throne.  Their  se- 
Ctet  plans  were  so  well  laid,  and  they  were  so  secure  of  success, 
that  the  Elector  of  Mentz  tauntingly  and  boastingly  said  to 
Albert,  "  I  need  only  sound  my  hunting-horn  and  a  new  em- 
peror will  appear." 

Albert,  however,  succeeded  by  sagacity  and  energy,  in 
dispelling  this  storm  which  for  a  time  threatened  his  entire 
destruction.  By  making  concessions  to  the  pope,  he  finally 
won  him  to  cordial  friendship,  and  by  the  sword  vanquish 
ing  some  and  intimidating  othei*s,  he  broke  up  the  league 
His  most  formidable  foe  was  his  brother-in-law,  Wenceslaus, 
King  of  Bohemia.  Albert's  sister,  Judith,  the  wife  of  Wen» 
«eslaus,  had  for  some  years  prevented  a  rupture  between  them, 
but  she  now  being  dead,  both  monarchs  decided  to  refer  thdr 
diflBculties  to  the  arbitration  of  the  sword.  While  their  armies 
were  marching,  Wenceslaus  was  suddenly  taken  sick  and  died, 
in  June,  1805.  His  son,  but  seventeen  years  of  age,  weak  in 
body  and  in  mind,  at  once  yielded  to  all  the  demands  of  his 
imperial  uncle.  Hardly  a  year,  however,  had  elapsed  ere  this 
young  prince,  Wenceslaus  IH,  was  assassinated,  leaving  no 
issue. 

Albert  immediately  resolved  to  transfer  the  crown  of  Bo 


ALBABT    J.,    FBSDSBIC,    ALBBBT  AND   OTBO.     90 

Qemia  to  bis  own  femily,  and  thos  to  annex  the  powerfhl  king 
dom  of  Bohemia  to  his  own  limited  Aastrian  territories.  Bo 
(lemia  added  to  the  Anstrimi  provinces,  woold  constitute  quite 
A  noUe  kingdom.  The  crown  was  considered  elective,  though 
in  feet  the  eldest  son  was  ahnost  always  chosen  during  the 
lifetime  of  his  fether.  The  death  of  Wenceslaas,  childless, 
opened  the  throne  to  other  olmmants.  No  one  oonld  more 
Imperiously  demand  the  scepter  than  Albert.  He  did  demand 
it  for  his  son  Rhodolph  in  tones  which  were  heard  and  obeyed. 
The  States  assembled  at  Prague  on  the  1st  of  April,  1306. 
Albert,  surronnded  by  a  magnificent  retinne,  conducted  his 
•on  to  Prague,  and  to  cot  5nn  his  authority  married  him  to 
the  widow  of  Wenceslaus,  a  second  wife.  Rhodolph  alsOi 
rP  out  a  year  before,  had  buried  Blanche,  his  first  wife.  Albei* 
iras  exceedingly  elated,  for  the  acquisition  of  Bohemia  was  ai 
accession  to  the  power  of  his  femily  which  doubled  their  tw- 
ritory,  and  more  than  doubled  their  wealth  and  resources. 

A  mild  government  would  have  conciliated  the  Bohemians, 
but  such  a  comse  was  not  consonant  with  the  character  of  the 
imperioos  and  despotic  Albert.  He  urged  his  son  to  me^ 
ores  of  arbitrary  power  which  exasperated  the  nobles,  and  led 
to  a  ^)eedy  revolt  against  his  authority.  Rhodolph  and  the 
nobles  were  soon  in  the  field  with  their  contending  armie% 
when  Rhodolph  suddenly  died  from  the  &tigues  of  the  camp, 
^ed  but  twenty-two  years,  having  held  the  throne  of  Bohe. 
mia  less  than  a  year. 

Albert,  grievously  disappointed,  now  demanded  that  his 
second  son,  Frederic,  should  receive  the  crown.  As  soon  as 
bis  name  was  mentioned  to  the  States,  the  assembly  with  great 
imanimity  excl^med,  **  We  will  not  again  have  an  Anstritui 
king."  This  led  to  a  tumult.  Swords  were  drawn,  and  two 
of  the  partisans  of  Albert  were  slain.  Henry,  Doke  of  Ca- 
rinthia,  was  then  almost  unanimously  chosen  king.  But  the 
haughty  Albert  was  not  to  be  thus  easily  thwarted  in  his  plans. 
He  declared  that  his  aoa  Frederic  was  King  of  Bohemia,  and 


40  THE     HOUSE     OP     AUSTRIA. 

raising  an  army,  he  exerted  all  the  influence  and  military  poweT 
which  his  position  as  emperor  gave  him,  to  enforce  his  claim. 

But  affairs  in  Switzerland  for  a  season  arrested  the  atten- 
tion of  Albert,  and  diverted  his  armies  from  the  invasion  of 
Bohemia.  Switzerland  was  then  divided  into  small  sovereign- 
ties, of  various  names,  there  being  no  less  than  fifty  counts, 
one  hundred  and  fifty  barons,  and  one  thousand  noble  families. 
Both  Rhodolph  and  Albert  had  greatly  increased,  by  annexa- 
tion, the  territory  and  the  power  of  the  house  of  Hapsburg. 
By  purchase,  intimidation,  war,  and  diplomacy,  Albert  had 
for  some  time  been  making  such  rapid  encroachments,  that  a 
general  insurrection  was  secretly  planned  to  resist  his  power. 
All  Switzerland  seemed  to  unite  as  with  one  accord.  Albert 
was  rejoiced  at  this  insurrection,  for,  confident  of  superioi 
power,  he  doubted  not  his  ability  speedily  to  quell  it,  and  it 
would  afford  him  the  most  favorable  pretext  for  still  greater 
aggrandizement.  Albert  hastened  to  his  domain  at  Hapsburg, 
where  he  was  assassinated  by  conspirators  led  by  his  own 
nephew,  whom  he  was  defrauding  of  his  estates. 

Frederic  and  Leopold,  the  two  oldest  surviving  sons  of 
Albert,  avenged  their  father's  death  by  pursuing  the  conspira 
tors  until  they  all  suffered  the  penalty  of  their  crimes.  With 
ferocity  characteristic  of  the  age,  they  punished  mercilessly 
the  families  and  adherents  of  the  assassins.  Their  castles  were 
iemolished,  their  estates  confiscated,  their  domestics  and  men 
at  arms  massacred,  and  their  wives  and  children  driven  out 
into  the  world  to  beg  or  to  starve.  Sixty-three  of  the  retain- 
ers of  Lord  Balne,  one  of  the  conspirators,  though  entirely 
innocent  of  the  crime,  and  solemnly  protesting  their  uncon- 
sciousness of  any  plot,  were  beheaded  in  one  day.  Thougft 
but  four  persons  took  part  in  the  assassination,  and  it  waa 
not  known  that  any  others  were  implicated  in  the  deed,  it  it 
estimated  that  more  than  a  thousand  persons  suffered  death 
through  the  fury  of  the  avengers.  Agnes,  one  of  the  daugh- 
ters of  Albert,  endeavored  with  her  own  hands  to  strangle  tiM 


ALBERT  I.,  FBBDBBIC,  ALBERT  AND  OTHO.  41 

iliiant  child  of  the  Lord  of  Eschenback,  when  the  soldiera, 
moved  by  its  piteous  cries,  with  difficulty  rescued  it  from  her 
bands. 

Elizabeth,  the  widow  of  Albert,  with  her  implacable  fanatio 
daughter  Agnes,  erected  a  magnificent  convent  on  the  spot  at 
Konigsburg,  where  the  emperor  was  assassinated,  and  there 
•n  cloislered  gloom  they  passed  the  remainder  of  their  lives. 
It  was  an  age  of  superstition,  and  yet  there  were  some  who 
comprehended  and  appreciated  the  pure  morality  of  the  gos- 
pel  of  Christ. 

"  Woman,"  said  an  aged  hermit  to  Agnes,  "  God  is  not 
served  by  shedding  innocent  blood,  and  by  rearing  convents 
from  the  plunder  of  families.  He  is  served  by  compassion  only, 
and  by  the  forgiveness  of  injuiies." 

Frederic,  Albert's  oldest  son,  now  assumed  the  govern- 
ment of  the  Austrian  provinces.  From  his  uncommon  per- 
sonal attractions  he  was  called  Fredeiic  the  Handsome.  His 
character  was  in  conformity  with  his  person,  for  to  the  most 
chivah'ous  bravery  he  added  the  most  feminine  amiability  and 
mildness.  He  was  a  candidate  for  the  imperial  throne,  and 
would  probably  have  been  elected  but  for  the  unpopularity  of 
his  despotic  father.  The  diet  met,  and  on  the  2Vth  of  Novem- 
ber, 1308,  the  choice  fell  unanimously  upon  Henry,  Count  of 
Luxemburg. 

This  election  deprived  Frederic  of  his  hopes  of  uniting 
Bohemia  to  Austria,  for  the  new  emperor  placed  his  son  John 
upon  the  Bohemian  throne,  and  was  prepared  to  maintain  him 
there  by  all  the  power  of  the  empire.  In  accomplishing  Uiis, 
there  was  a  short  conflict  with  Henry  of  Carinthia,  but  he  was 
speedily  driven  out  of  the  kingdom. 

Frederic,  however,  found  a  little  solace  in  his  disappoint 
ment,  by  attaching  to  Austria  the  dominions  he  had  wrested 
from  the  lords  he  had  beheaded  as  assassins  of  his  father.  In 
the  midst  of  these  scenes  of  ambition,  intrigue  and  violenon, 
the  Emperor  Henry  fell  sick  and  died.,  in  the  fifty-second  year 


42  THK    housb:    of   austbia. 

of  his  age.  This  unexpected  event  opened  again  to  Frederic 
tiie  prospect  of  the  imperial  crown,  »id  all  his  friends,  in  the 
now  very  numerous  branches  of  the  &mily,  spared  neither 
money  nor  the  arts  of  diplomacy  in  the  endearor  to  secare  the 
coveted  dignity  for  him.  A  year  elapsed  after  the  death  of 
Henry  before  the  diet  was  assembled.  During  that  time  all 
the  German  States  were  in  intense  agitation  canvassmg  the 
claims  of  the  several  c^ididates.  Itie  prize  of  an  imperial 
crown  was  one  which  many  grasped  at,  and  every  little  court 
was  agitated  by  the  question.  The  day  of  election,  October 
9th,  1314,  arrived.  There  were  two  hostile  parties  in  the  field, 
one  in  favor  of  Frederic  of  Austria,  the  other  in  fevor  of  Louis 
of  Bavaria.  The  two  parties  met  in  different  cities,  the  Aus* 
trians  at  Saxenhausen,  and  the  Bavarians  at  Frankfort.  There 
were,  however,  but  four  electors  at  Saxenhausen,  while  there 
were  6^=^  at  Frankfort,  the  ancient  place  of  election.  Each 
party  unanimously  chose  its  candidate.  Louis,  of  Bavaria,  re- 
ceiving five  votes,  while  Frederic  received  but  four,  was  un- 
questionably the  legitimate  emperor.  Most  of  the  imperial 
cities  acknowledged  him.  Frankfort  sung  his  triumph,  and  he 
was  crowned  with  all  the  ancient  ceremonials  of  pomp  at  Aix- 
la-Chapelle. 

But  Frederic  and  his  party  were  not  ready  to  yield,  and 
all  over  Germany  there  was  the  mustering  of  armies.  For 
two  years  the  hostile  forces  were  marching  and  countermarch- 
ing with  the  usual  vicissitudes  of  war.  The  tide  of  devasta- 
tion and  blood  swept  now  over  one  State,  and  now  over 
another,  until  at  length  the  two  armies  met,  in  all  their  con- 
centrated strength,  at  Muhldorf,  near  Munich,  for  a  decisive 
battle.  Louis  of  Bavaria  rode  proudly  at  the  head  of  thirty 
thousand  foot,  and  fifteen  hundred  steel-clad  horsemen.  Fred- 
eric of  Austria,  the  handsomest  man  of  his  age,  towering  above 
all  his  retinue,  was  ostentatiously  arrayed  in  the  most  splendid 
armor  art  could  furnish,  emblazoned  with  the  Austrian  eagle 
and  his  helmet  was  surmounted  bj  a  crown  of  gold. 


ALBBBT  I.,  FBBDBBIO^  ALBERT  AND  OTHO.  48 

As  he  thus  led  the  ranks  of  twenty-two  thousand  footmen, 
and  seven  thousand  horse,  all  eyes  followed  him,  and  aU  hearts 
throbbed  with  confidence  of  victory.  From  early  dawn,  till 
nightv  darkened  the  field,  the  horrid  stril'e  raged.  In  those 
days  gunpowder  was  unknown,  and  the  ringing  of  battle-axes 
on  helmet  and  cuirass,  the  strokes  of  sabers  and  the  clash  of 
spears,  shouts  of  onset,  and  the  shrieks  of  the  wounded,  as 
sixty  thousand  men  foaght  hand  to  hand  on  one  small  field, 
rose  like  the  clamor  irom  battling  demons  in  the  infernal 
world.  Hour  after  hour  of  carnage  passed,  and  still  no  one 
oould  tell  on  whose  banners  victory  would  alight.  The  gloom 
of  night  was  darkening  over  the  exhausted  combatants,  when 
the  winding  of  the  bugle  was  heard  in  the  rear  of  the  Aus- 
trians,  and  a  band  of  four  hundred  Bavarian  horsemen  came 
plunging  down  an  eminence  into  the  disordered  ranks  of  Fred- 
eric. The  hour  of  dismay,  which  decides  a  battle,  had  come. 
A  scene  of  awful  carnage  ensued  as  the  routed  Austrians,  flee- 
ing in  every  direction,  were  pursued  and  massacred.  Fred- 
eric himself  was  struck  from  his  horse,  and  as  he  fell,  stunned 
by  the  blow,  be  was  captured,  disarmed  and  carried  to  the 
presence  of  his  rival  Louis. 

The  spirit  of  Frederic  was  cnished  by  the  awful,  the  irre- 
trievable defeat,  and  he  appeared  before  his  conqueror  speech- 
less in  the  extremity  of  his  woe.  Louis  had  the  pride  of  mag- 
nanimity and  endeavored  to  console  his  captive. 

"  The  battle  is  not  lost  by  your  fault,"  said  he.  "  The  Ba- 
varians have  experienced  to  their  cost  that  you  are  a  valiant 
prince ;  but  Providence  has  decided  the  battle.  Though  I  «»m 
happy  to  see  you  as  my  guest,  I  sympathize  with  you  in  your 
sorrow,  and  will  do  what  I  can  to  alleviate  it." 

For  three  years  the  unhappy  Frederic  remained  a  prisoner 
(of  Louis  of  Bavaria,  held  in  close  confinement  in  the  castle  at 
Trausnitz.  At  the  end  of  that  time  the  emperor,  alarmed  at 
the  eflbrts  which  the  friends  of  Frederic  were  making  to  com- 
bine several  Powers  to  take  up  arms  for  his  relief,  visited  hiif 


4«  THE     HOUSE     OP     AUSTRIA. 

prisoner,  and  in  a  personal  interview  proposed  tei^us  of  recon 
ciliation.  The  terms,  under  the  circumstances,  were  nonrad 
ered  generous,  but  a  proud  spirit  needed  the  discipline  of  three 
years'  imprisonment  before  it  could  yield  to  such  demands. 

It  was  the  13th  of  March,  1325,  when  this  singular  intov 
Tiew  between  Louis  the  emperor,  and  Frederic  his  captive, 
took  place  at  Trausnitz.  Frederic  promised  upon  oath  that 
in  exchange  for  his  freedom  he  would  renounce  all  claim  to 
the  imperial  throne ;  restore  all  the  distncts  and  castles  he 
had  wrested  from  the  empire ;  give  up  all  the  documenta 
relative  to  his  election  as  emperor ;  join  with  all  his  family  in- 
fluence to  support  Louis  against  any  and  every  adversary,  and 
give  his  daughter  in  marriage  to  Stephen  the  son  of  Louis. 
He  also  promised  that  in  case  he  should  fail  in  the  fulfillment 
of  any  one  of  these  stipulations,  he  would  return  to  his  ci^ 
tivity. 

Frederic  fully  intended  a  faithful  compliance  wirh  these 
requisitions.  But  no  sooner  was  he  liberated  than  his  fiery 
brother  Leopold,  who  presided  over  the  Swiss  estates,  and  who 
was  a  man  of  great  capacity  and  military  energy,  refused  per- 
emptorily to  fulfill  the  articles  which  related  to  him,  and  made 
vigorous  preparations  to  urge  the  war  which  he  had  already, 
with  many  allies,  commenced  against  the  Emperor  Louis.  The 
pope  also,  who  had  become  inimical  to  Louis,  declared  that 
Frederic  was  absolved  from  the  agreement  at  Trausnitz,  as  it 
was  extorted  by  force,  and,  with  all  the  authority  of  the  head 
of  the  Church,  exhorted  Frederic  to  reassert  his  claim  to  the 
imperial  crown. 

Amidst  such  scenes  of  fraud  and  violence,  it  is  refreshing 
to  record  an  act  of  real  honor.  Frederic,  notwithstanding  the 
entreaties  of  the  pope  and  the  remonstrances  of  his  friends, 
declared  that,  be  the  consequences  what  they  might,  he  never 
would  violate  his  pledge ;  and  finding  that  he  could  not  fulfill 
the  articles  of  the  agreement,  he  returned  to  Bavaria  and  sur- 
rendered himself  a  prisoner  to  the  emperor.     It  is  seldom  thai 


ALBBBT  I.,  FREDERIC,  ABBERT  AND  OTHO.   48 

history  has  the  piivilege  of  recording  so  noble  an  act.  Louis 
of  Bavaria  fortunately  had  a  soul  capable  of  appreciating  the 
maguauimity  of  his  captive.  He  received  him  with  courtesy 
and  with  almost  fraternal  kindness.  In  the  words  of  a  con« 
temporary  historian,  "  They  ate  at  the  same  table  and  slept  in 
the  same  bed ;"  and,  most  extraordinary  of  all,  when  Louis 
was  subsequently  called  to  a  distant  part  of  his  dominions  to 
quell  an  insurrection,  he  intrusted  the  government  of  Bavaria, 
during  his  absence,  to  Frederic. 

Frederic's  impetuous  and  ungovernable  brother  Leopold, 
was  unwearied  in  his  endeavors  to  combine  armies  against  the 
emperor,  and  war  raged  without  cessation.  At  length  Louis, 
harassed  by  these  endless  insurrections  and  coalitions  against 
him,  and  admiring  the  magnanimity  of  Fredei'ic,  entered  into 
a  new  alliance,  offering  terms  exceedingly  honorable  on  hia 
part.  He  agreed  that  he  and  Frederic  should  rule  conjointly 
as  emperors  of  Germany,  in  perfect  equality  of  power  and  dig- 
nity, alternately  taking  the  precedence. 

With  this  arrangement  Leopold  was  satisfied,  but  unfortu- 
nately, just  at  that  time,  his  impetuous  spirit,  exhausted  by 
disappointment  and  chagrin,  yielded  to  death.  He  died  at 
Strasbourg  on  the  28th  of  Februaiy,  1326.  The  pope  and 
several  of  the  electors  refused  to  accede  to  this  arrangement, 
and  thus  the  hopes  of  the  unhappy  Frederic  were  again 
blighted,  for  Louis,  who  had  consented  to  this  accommodation 
for  the  sake  of  peace,  was  not  willing  to  enforce  it  through 
the  tumult  of  war.  Frederic  was,  however,  liberated  from 
captivity,  and  he  returned  to  Austria  a  dejected,  broken-heartod 
man.  He  pined  away  for  a  few  months  in  languor,  being 
rarely  known  to  smile,  and  died  at  the  castle  of  Gullenstein  on 
the  18th  of  January,  1830.  His  widow,  Isabella,  the  daughter 
of  the  King  of  Arragon,  became  blind  from  excessive  grief, 
and  soon  followed  her  husband  to  the  tomb. 

As  Frederic  left  no  son,  the  Austrian  dominions  fell  to  his 
Iwo  brothers,  Albert  HI.  and  Otho      Albert,  by  marriage^ 


40  TBS     HOnSB    OF    AUSTBIA. 

added  the  valuable  county  of  Ferret  in  Alsace  to  the  doauDiona 
of  the  house  of  Austria.  The  two  brothers  reigned  with  such 
wonderful  harmony,  that  no  indications  can  be  seen  of  sepa- 
rate administrations.  They  renounced  all  daim  to  the  impe- 
rial throne,  notwithstanding  the  efforts  of  the  pope  to  the 
contrary,  and  thus  secured  friendship  with  the  Emperor  Louis. 
There  were  now  three  prominent  families  dominant  ia  Ger* 
many.  Around  these  great  families,  who  had  gradually,  by 
marriage  and  military  encroachments,  attained  their  supremacy, 
the  others  of  all  degrees  rallied  as  vassals,  seeking  protection 
and  contributing  strength.  The  house  of  Bavaria,  reigning 
over  that  powerfiil  kingdom  and  in  possession  of  the  imperial 
throne,  ranked  first.  Then  came  the  house  of  Luxembourg, 
possessing  the  wide-spread  and  opulent  realms  of  Bohemia, 
The  house  of  Austria  had  now  vast  possessions,  but  these  were 
widely  scattered  ;  some  provinces  on  the  banks  of  the  Danube 
and  others  in  Switzerland,  spreading  through  the  defiles  of 
the  Alps. 

John  of  Bohemia  was  an  overbearing  man,  and  feeling  quite 
impregnable  in  his  northern  realms  beyond  the  mountains,  as- 
sumed such  a  dictatorial  air  as  to  rouse  the  ire  of  the  princee 
of  Austria  and  Bavaria.  These  two  houses  consequently  en- 
tered into  an  intimate  alliance  for  mutual  security.  The  Duke 
of  Carinthia,  who  was  uncle  to  Albert  and  Otho,  died,  leaving 
only  a  daughter,  Margaret.  This  dukedom,  about  the  me  of 
the  State  of  Massachusetts,  a  wild  and  mountainous  region, 
was  deemed  very  important  as  the  key  to  Italy.  John  of  Bo- 
hemia, anxious  to  obtain  it,  had  engaged  the  b^id  of  Margaret 
for  his  son,  then  but  eight  years  of  age.  It  was  a  question  in 
dispute  whether  the  dukedom  could  descend  to  a  temale,  and 
Albert  and  Otho  claimed  it  as  the  heirs  of  their  nnde.  Louifli 
the  emperor,  supported  the  claims  of  Austria,  and  thus  Carin- 
thia became  attached  to  this  growing  power. 

John,  enraged,  formed  a  confederacy  with  the  kings  of  Hun 
gary  and  Poland,  and  some  minor  princes,  and  invaded  Ana 


ALBBBT    I.)    PBBDBBIC,     ALBBBT    AlVD    OTBO.        4T 

tria.  For  some  time  they  swept  all  o|^)OsitioQ  before  theia 
But  the  Austiian  troops  and  those  of  the  empire  checked 
Ihem  at  Landau.  Here  they  entered  into  im  agreem^it  with- 
out a  battle,  by  which  Austria  was  permitted  to  retam  Carin- 
thia,  she  making  important  ccmcessions  to  Bohemia.  In  Felv 
ruary,  1339,  Otho  died,  and  Albert  was  invested  with  the  sole 
administration  of  affairs.  The  old  King  of  Bohemia  possessed 
vehemence  of  character  which  neither  age  nor  the  total  blind> 
ness  with  which  he  had  become  afflicted  could  repress.  He 
traversed  the  empire,  and  even  went  to  France,  organi^g  a 
powerful  confederacy  against  the  emperor.  The  pope,  Clem- 
ent VX,  who  had  always  been  inimical  to  Louis  of  Bavaria, 
influenced  by  John  of  Bohemia,  deposed  and  excommunicated 
Louis,  and  ordered  a  new  meeting  of  the  diet  of  electors, 
which  chose  Charles,  eldest  son  of  the  Bohemian  monarch, 
and  heir  to  that  crown,  emperor-. 

The  deposed  Louis  fought  bravely  for  the  crown  thos  torn 
from  his  brow.  Albeit  of  Austria  aided  him  with  all  his  en- 
ergies. Their  united  armies,  threading  the  defiles  of  the  Bo> 
hemian  mountains,  penetrated  the  very  heait  of  the  kingdooii 
when,  in  the  midst  of  success,  the  deposed  Emperor  Louis  fell 
dead  from  a  stroke  of  apoplexy,  in  the  year  1347.  This  event 
left  Charles  of  Bohemia  in  undisputed  possession  of  the  in^ 
perial  crown.  Albert  immediate!}'  recogcixed  his  claim,  ^ 
fected  reconciliation,  and  becoming  the  friend  and  the  ally 
of  the  emperor,  pressed  on  cautiously  but  securdy,  year  after 
year,  in  his  policy  of  annexation.  But  storms  of  war  ince» 
santly  howled  around  his  domains  until  he  died,  a  orqp|)tod 
|»aralytic,  on  the  16th  of  August,  1868. 


CHAPTER    III. 

BHODOLPH    II.,    ALBERT    IV.    ANB    ALBERT   T. 
From  1339  to  1437. 

SbodolphIL — Mabbiaok  of  John  to  Margaret. — Intriouino  fob  the  Ttbou-* 
Death  OF  Rhodolph. — Accession  op  Power  to  Austria. — Dividing  the  Empibk. 
— Delight  op  the  Emperor  Charles. — Leopold. — His  Ambition  and  8trcoEa8H8. 

-HeDWIGE,  QtTEEN    OP     POLAND. — "  ThE     CoURSE    OF    TRUE    LoVE    NEVER    DID    BBll 

■MOOTn." — Unhappy  Marriage  of  Hedwige.— Heroism  of  Arnold  op  Winkri*- 
BEIB. — Death  of  Leopold. — Death  of  Albert  IV. — Accession  op  Albert  V.— 
Attempts  op  Sigismond  to  bequeath  to  Albert  V.  Hungary  and  Bohbhia. 

T)  HODOLPH  II.,  the  eldest  son  of  Albert  III.,  when  but 
•*■*'  nmeteen  years  of  age  succeeded  his  father  in  the  govern- 
ment of  the  Austrian  States.  He  had  been  very  thoroughly 
educated  in  all  the  civil  and  military  knowledge  of  the  times. 
He  was  closely  allied  wdth  the  Emperor  Charles  IV.  of  Bohe- 
mia, having  married  his  daughter  Catherine.  His  character 
and  manhood  had  been  very  early  developed.  When  he  was 
in  his  seventeenth  year  his  father  had  found  it  necessary  to 
visit  his  Swiss  estates,  then  embroiled  in  the  fiercest  war,  and 
had  left  him  in  charge  of  the  Austrian  provinces.  He  soon 
after  was  intrusted  with  the  whole  care  of  the  Hapsburg  do- 
minions in  Switzerland.  In  this  responsible  post  he  developed 
wonderful  administrative  skill,  encouraging  industry,  repi'eis- 
ing  disorder,  and  by  constructing  roads  and  bridges,  opening 
fiwjilities  for  intercourse  and  trade. 

Upon  the  death  of  his  father,  Rhodolph  removed  to 
Vienna,  and  being  now  the  monarch  of  powerful  realms  oa 
the  Danube  and  among  the  Alps,  he  established  a  court  rival 
ing  the  most  magnificent  establishments  of  the  age. 

Just  west  of  Austria  and  south  of  Bavaria  was  the  magnifi 


BBODOLPB     II.,    ALBERT    IV.     AND     ALBERT    V.       49 

cent  dukedom  of  Tyrol,  containing  some  sixteen  tUoasand 
square  miles,  or  about  twice  the  size  of  the  State  of  Massachch 
•etta  It  was  a  country  almost  unrivaled  in  the  grandeur  of 
its  scenery,  and  contained  nearly  a  million  of  inhabitants. 
This  State,  lying  equally  convenient  to  both  Anstria  and  B». 
varia,  by  both  of  these  kingdoms  had  for  many  years  been  r^ 
garded  with  a  wistful  eye.  The  manner  in  which  Austria  se- 
Onred  the  prize  is  a  story  well  worth  telling,  as  illustrative  <^ 
the  intrigues  of  those  times. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  John,  the  arrogant  King  o( 
Bohemia,  engaged  for  his  son  the  hand  of  Margaret,  the  only 
daughter  of  the  Duke  of  Carinthia.  Tyrol  also  was  one  of  the 
possessions  of  this  powerful  duke.  Henry,  having  no  son,  had 
obtained  from  the  emperor  a  decree  that  these  possessions 
should  descend,  in  default  of  male  issue,  to  his  daughter.  But 
for  this  decision  the  sovereignty  of  these  States  would  descend 
to  the  male  heirs,  Albert  and  Otho  of  Austria,  nephews  of 
Henry.  They  of  course  disputed  the  legality  of  the  decree, 
and,  aided  by  the  Emperor  Louis  of  Bavaria,  obtained  Carin- 
thia, relinquishing  for  a  time  their  claim  to  Tyrol.  The  em- 
peror hoped  to  secure  that  golden  prize  for  his  hereditary 
estates  of  Bavaria. 

When  John,  the  son  of  the  King  of  Bohemia,  was  but  sev- 
enteen years  of  age,  and  a  puny,  weakly  child,  he  was  hurriedly 
married  to  Margaret,  then  twenty-two.  Margaret,  a  sanguine, 
energetic  woman,  despised  her  baby  husband,  and  he,  very 
naturally,  impotently  hated  her.  She  at  length  fled  from  him, 
and  escaping  from  Bohemia,  threw  herself  under  the  protec- 
tion of  Louis.  The  emperor  joyfrilly  welcomed  her  to  his 
court,  and  promised  to  grant  her  a  divorce,  by  virtue  of  his 
imperial  power,  if  she  would  marry  his  son  Louis.  The  com- 
pliant princess  readily  acceded  to  this  plan,  and  the  divoroi* 
was  announced  and  the  nuptials  solenmized  in  February,  1942 

The  King  of  Bohemia  was  as  much  exasperated  as  the  King 
of  Bavaria  was  elated  by  this  event,  for  the  one  felt  that  ht 


50  THE     HOUSB     OP     AUSTRIA, 

had  lost  the  Tyrol,  and  the  other  that  he  had  gamed  it.  It 
was  this  successful  intrigue  which  cost  Louis  of  Bavaria  his 
imperial  crown  ;  for  the  blood  of  the  King  of  Bohemia  was 
roused.  Burning  with  vengeance,  he  traversed  Europe  almost 
with  the  zeal  and  eloquence  of  Peter  the  Hermit,  to  organize 
a  coalition  against  the  emperor,  and  succeeded  in  inducing  the 
pope,  always  hostile  to  Louis,  to  depose  and  excommunicate 
him.  This  marriage  was  also  declared  by  the  pope  unlawful, 
and  the  son,  Meinhard,  eventually  born  to  them,  was  branded 
as  illegitimate. 

While  matters  were  in  this  state,  as  years  glided  on,  Rho- 
dolph  succeeded  in  winning  the  favor  of  the  pontiff,  and  in- 
duced him  to  legitimate  Meinhard,  that'  this  young  heir  of 
Tyrol  might  marry  the  Austrian  princess  Margaret,  sister  of 
Rhodolph.  Meinhard  and  his  wife  Margaret  ere  long  died, 
leaving  Margaret  of  Tyrol,  a  widow  in  advancing  years,  with 
no  direct  heirs.  By  the  marriage  contract  of  her  son  Meia* 
hard  with  Margaret  of  Austria,  she  promised  that  should  there 
be  failure  of  issue,  Tyrol  should  revert  to  Austria.  On  the 
other  hand,  Bavaria  claimed  the  territory  in  virtue  of  the 
marriage  of  Margaret  with  Louis  of  Bavaria. 

Rhodolph  was  so  apprehensive  that  Bavaria  might  make  an 
immediate  move  to  obtain  the  coveted  territory  by  force  of 
arms,  that  he  hastened  across  the  mountains,  though  in  the 
depth  of  winter,  obtained  from  Margaret  an  immediate  pos- 
session of  Tyrol,  and  persuaded  her  to  accompany  him,  an 
honored  guest,  to  his  capital,  which  he  had  embellished  with 
unusual  splendor  for  her  entertainment. 

Rhodolph  had  married  the  daughter  of  Charles,  King  of 
Bohemia,  the  emperor,  but  unfortunately  at  this  juncture, 
Rhodolph,  united  with  the  kings  of  Hungary  and  Poland,  was 
at  war  with  the  Bavarian  king.  Catherine  his  wife,  however, 
undertook  to  effect  a  reconciliation  between  her  husband  and 
her  father.  She  secured  an  interview  between  them,  and  the 
emperor,  the  hereditary  rival  of  his  powerful  neighbor  the 


BBODOLPH  It.,  ALBSBT  IV.  AND  ALBEBT  f.      51 

King  of  Bavaria,  confii-med  Margaret's  gift,  invested  Rhodolpl 
with  tlie  Tyrol,  and  pledged  the  arm  of  the  empire  to  main 
tain  this  settlement.  Thus  Austria  gained  Tyrol,  the  comitry 
of  romance  and  of  song,  interesting,  perhaps,  above  all  other 
portions  of  Europe  in  its  natural  scenery,  and  invaluable  from 
its  location  as  the  gateway  of  Italy.  Bavaria  made  a  show  of 
armed  opposition  to  this  magnificent  accession  to  the  power 
of  Austria,  but  soon  found  it  in  vain  to  assail  Rhodolph  sus- 
tained  by  Margaret  of  Tyrol,  and  by  the  energies  of  the  em- 
jnre. 

Rhodolph  was  an  antiquarian  of  eccentric  character,  ever 
poring  over  musty  records  and  hunting  up  decayed  titles.  He 
was  fond  of  attaching  to  his  signature  the  names  of  all  the 
innumerable  offices  he  held  over  the  conglomerated  States  of 
his  realm.  He  was  Rhodolph,  Margrave  of  Baden,  Vicar  of 
Upper  Bavaria,  I^ord  of  Hapsburg,  Arch  Huntsman  of  the 
Empire,  Archduke  Palatine,  etc,  etc.  His  ostentation  pro» 
yoked  even  the  jealousy  of  his  fether,  the  emperor,  and  he  was 
ordered  to  lay  aside  these  numerous  titles  and  the  arrogant 
armorial  bearings  he  was  attaching  to  his  seals.  His  desire  to 
aggrandize  his  family  burned  with  a  quenchless  flame.  Hop- 
ing to  extend  his  influence  in  Italy,  he  negotiated  a  matrimo- 
nial alliance  for  his  brother  with  an  Italian  princess.  As  he 
crossed  the  Alps  to  attend  the  nuptials,  he  was  seized  with 
an  inflammatory  fever,  and  died  the  27th  of  July,  13d6,  bat 
twenty-six  years  of  age,  and  leaving  no  issue. 

His  brother  Albert,  a  young  man  but  seventeen  years  of 
age,  succeeded  Rhodolph.  Just  as  he  assumed  the  government, 
Margaret  of  Tyrol  died,  and  the  King  of  Bavaria,  thinking 
this  a  &vorable  moment  to  renew  his  claims  for  the  Tyrol,  vig- 
orously invaded  the  country  with  a  strong  army.  Albert  im- 
mediately applied  to  the  emperor  for  assistance.  Three  years 
were  employed  in  fightings  and  diplomacy,  when  Bavaria,  in 
consideration  of  a  large  sum  of  money  and  sundry  other  con- 
cessions, renounced  all  pretensions  to  Tyro),  and  left  the  rich 


52  THE     HOtTSE    OP     AUSTRIA. 

prize  henceforth  undisputed  in  the  hands  of  Austria.  Tbaa 
the  diminutive  margrave  of  Austria,  wh'ch  was  at  first  but  Si 
mere  military  post  on  the  Danube,  had  grovs^n  by  rapid  accre- 
tions in  one  century  to  be  almost  equal  in  extent  of  territoiy 
to  the  kingdoms  of  Bavaria  and  of  Bohemia.  This  grandeur 
instead  of  satisfying  the  Austrian  princes,  did  but  increase  their 
ambition. 

The  Austrian  territories,  though  widely  scattered,  were 
declared,  both  by  family  compact  and  by  imperial  decree,  to  be 
indivisible.  Albert  had  a  brother,  Leopold,  two  years  younger 
than  himself,  of  exceedingly  restless  and  ambitious  spirit,  while 
Albert  was  inactive,  and  a  lover  of  ease  and  repose.  Leopold 
was  sent  to  Switzerland,  and  intrusted  with  the  administra- 
tion of  those  provinces.  But  his  imperious  spirit  so  dom- 
inated over  his  elder  but  pliant  brother,  that  he  extorted  from 
him  a  compact,  by  which  the  realm  was  divided,  Albert  re- 
maining in  possession  of  the  Austrian  provinces  of  the  Danube, 
and  Leopol'd  having  exclusive  dominion  over  those  in  Switzer- 
land  ;  while  the  magnificent  new  acquisition,  the  Tyrol,  lying 
between  the  two  countries,  bounding  Switzerland  on  the  east, 
and  Austria  on  the  west,  was  shared  between  them. 

Nothing  can  more  clearly  show  the  moderate  qualities  of 
Albert  than  that  he  should  have  assented  to  such  a  plan.  He 
did,  however,  with  easy  good  nature,  assent  to  it,  and  the  two 
brothers  applied  to  the  Emperor  Charles  to  ratify  the  divis- 
ion by  his  imperial  sanction.  Charles,  who  for  some  time 
bad  been  very  jealous  of  the  rapid  encroachments  of  Austria, 
rubbed  his  hands  with  delight. 

"  We  have  long,"  said  he,  "  labored  in  vain  to  humble  the 
flouse  of  Austria,  and  now  the  dukes  of  Austria  have  humbled 
themselves." 

Leopold  the  First  inherited  all  the  ambition  and  energy  of 
the  house  of  Hapsburg,  and  was  ever  watching  with  an  eagle 
eye  to  extend  his  dominions,  and  to  magnify  his  power.  By 
money,  war,  and  diplomacy,  in  a  few  years  he  obtained  Pri 


BHODOLPH  II.,  ALBERT  IV.  AND  ALBERT  V.   58 

burg  and  the  little  town  of  Basle;  attached  to  his  dorainiona 
the  counties  of  Feldkirch,  Pludenz,  Surgans  and  the  Rienthal, 
which  he  wrested  from  the  feeble  counts  who  held  them,  and 
obtained  the  baillages  of  Upper  and  Lower  Suabia,  and  the 
towns  of  Augsburg  and  Gingen.  But  a  bitter  disappointment 
was  now  encountered  by  this  ambitious  prince. 

Louis,  the  renowned  King  of  Hungary  and  Poland,  had  two 
daughters,  Maria  and  Hedwige,  but  no  sons.  To  Maria  Le 
promised  the  crown  of  Hungary  as  her  portion,  and  among 
the  many  claimants  for  her  hand,  and  the  glittering  crown  she 
held  in  it,  Sigismond,  son  of  the  Emperor  Charles,  King  of 
Bohemia,  received  the  prize.  Leopold,  whose  heart  throbbed 
in  view  of  so  splendid  an  alliance,  was  overjoyed  when  he  se- 
cured the  pledge  of  the  hand  of  Hedwige,  with  the  crown  of 
Poland,  for  William,  his  eldest  son.  Hedwige  was  one  of  the 
most  beautiful  and  accomplished  princesses  of  the  age.  Wil- 
Kam  was  also  a  young  man  of  great  elegance  of  person,  and 
of  such  rare  fascination  of  character,  that  he  had  acquired  the 
epithet  of  William  the  Delightful.  His  chivalrous  bearing 
had  been  trained  and  polished  amidst  the  splendors  of  his 
uncle's  court  of  Vienna.  Hedwige,  as  the  affianced  bride  of 
William,  was  invited  from  the  more  barbaric  pomp  of  the 
Hungarian  court,  to  improve  her  education  by  the  aid  of  the 
refinements  of  Vienna.  William  and  Hedwige  no  sooner  met 
than  they  loved  one  another,  as  young  hearts,  even  in  the 
palace,  wiU  sometimes  love,  as  well  as  in  the  cottage.  In 
brilliant  festivities  and  moonlight  excursions  the  young  lovers 
passed  a  few  happy  months,  when  Hedwige  was  called  home 
by  the  final  sickness  of  her  father.  Louis  died,  and  Hedwige 
was  immediately  crowned  Queen  of  Poland,  receiving  the 
most  enthusiastic  greetings  of  her  subjects. 

Bordering  on  Poland  there  was  a  grand  duchy  of  immense 
extent,  Lithuania,  embracing  sixty  thousand  square  miles. 
The  Grand  Duke  Jaghellon  was  a  burly  Northman,  not  more 
than  half  civilized,  whose  character  was  as  jagged  as  his  name. 


04  THS     HOUSB    OF    AUSTRIA 

This  pagan  proposed  to  the  Polish  nobles  that  he  should  nuury 
Hedwige,  and  thus  anite  the  grand  dnohy  of  Lithuania  with 
the  kingdom  of  Poland ;  promising  in  that  event  to  renonnoe 
paganism,  imd  embrace  Christianity.  Tlie  beautiM  and 
accomplished  Hedwige  was  horror-struck  at  the  proposal, 
and  declared  that  never  would  she  many  any  one  hvH 
William. 

But  the  Polish  nobles,  dazzled  by  the  prospect  of  this  mag- 
nificent accession  to  the  kingdom  of  Poland,  and  the  bishops, 
even  more  powerful  than  the  nobles,  elated  with  the  viraon  ot 
such  an  acquisition  for  the  Church,  resolved  that  the  young 
and  &therless  maiden,  who  had  no  one  to  defend  her  causei, 
ehould  yield,  and  that  she  should  become  the  bride  of  Ja^ 
hellon.  Tliey  declared  that  it  was  ridiculous  to  think  that  the 
interests  of  a  mighty  kingdom,  and  the  enlargement  of  the 
Church,  were  to  yield  to  the  caprices  of  a  love-sick  girl. 

In  the  meantime  William,  all  nnconscious  of  the  disap* 
pointment  which  awaited  him,  was  hastening  to  Cracow,  with 
a  splendid  retinue,  and  the  richest  presents  Austrian  art  could 
febricate,  to  receive  his  bride.  The  nobles,  however,  a  semi- 
barbaric  set  of  men,  surrounded  him  upon  his  arrival,  refused 
to  allow  him  any  interview  with  Hedwige,  threatened  him 
with  personal  violence,  and  drove  him  out  of  the  kingdom. 
Poor  Hedwige  was  in  anguish.  She  wept,  vowed  deathless 
fidelity  to  William,  and  expressed  utter  detestation  of  the 
pagan  duke,  until,  at  last,  worn  out  and  broken-hearted,  she, 
in  despair,  surrendered  herself  into  the  arms  of  Jaghellon. 
Jaghellon  was  baptized  by  the  name  of  Ladislaus,  and  Lith« 
oania  was  annexed  to  Poland. 

The  loss  of  the  crown  of  Poland  was  to  Leopold  a  grievous 
affliction;  at  the  same  time  his  armies,  engaged  in  sundry 
measures  of  aggi-andizement,  encountered  serious  reverses. 
Leopold,  the  father  of  William,  by  these  events  was  plunged 
mto  the  deepest  dejection.  No  effort  of  his  friends  could  lift 
the  weight  of  his  gloom.    In  a  retired  apartment  of  one  Df  hii 


BHODOLPH  II.,    ALBBBT  IV.    AND   ALBERT  V.       55 

castles  he  sat  silent  and  woftil,  apparently  incapacitated  for 
any  exertion  whatever,  either  bodily  or  mental.  The  affaiii 
of  his  realm  were  neglected,  and  his  bailiffs  and  feudal  chiefs, 
'eft  with  irresponsible  power,  were  guilty  of  such  acts  of  ex- 
tortion and  tyranny,  that,  in  the  province  of  Suabia  the  barons 
combined,  and  a  fierce  insurrection  broke  out.  Forty  im- 
portant towns  united  in  the  confederacy,  and  secured  the  f.n. 
operation  of  Strasburg,  Mentz  and  other  large  cities  on  the 
Rhine.  Other  of  the  Swiss  provinces  were  on  the  eve  of 
joining  this  alarming  confederacy  against  Leopold,  their  Aus- 
trian ruler.  As  Vienna  for  some  generations  had  been  the 
seat  of  the  Hapsburg  family,  from  whence  governors  were 
sent  to  these  provinces  of  Helvetia,  as  Switzerland  was  then 
called,  the  Swiss  began  to  regard  their  rulers  as  foreigners, 
and  even  Leopold  found  it  necessary  to  strengthen  himself 
with  Austrian  troops. 

This  formidable  league  roused  Leopold  from  his  torpor, 
and  he  awoke  like  the  waking  of  the  lion.  He  was  imme« 
diately  on  the  march  with  four  thousand  horsemen,  and  four- 
teen hundred  foot,  while  all  through  the  defiles  of  the  Alps 
bugle  blasts  echoed,  summoning  detachments  from  various 
cantons  under  their  bold  barons,  to  hasten  to  the  aid  of  the 
insurgents.  On  the  evening  of  the  9th  of  July,  1396,  the 
glittering  host  of  Leopold  appeared  on  an  eminence  overlook- 
ing the  city  of  Sempach  and  the  beautiful  lake  on  whose  bor- 
der it  stands.  The  horses  were  fatigued  by  their  long  and 
hurried  march,  and  the  crags  and  ravines,  covered  with  forest, 
were  impracticable  for  the  evolutions  of  cavalry.  The  im- 
petuous Leopold,  impatient  of  delay,  resolved  upon  an  imme- 
diate attack,  notwithstanding  the  exhaustion  of  his  troops, 
and  though  a  few  hours  of  delay  would  bring  strong  rein- 
forcements to  his  camp.  He  dismounted  his  horsemen,  and 
formed  his  whole  force  in  solid  phalanx.  It  was  an  imposing 
spectacle,  as  six  thousand  men,  covered  from  head  to  foot 
with  blazing  armor,  presentmg  a  front  of  shields  like  a  wall 


66  TBB    H047SE    OF    AUSTBiA. 

of  barnidied  steel,  bristling  with  innomeralrfe  fSkea  and  flpeaH) 
moved  with  Blow,  majestic  tread  down  upon  the  city. 

The  confederate  Swiss,  conscious  that  the  hour  of  Fe» 
geance  had  come,  in  which  they  must  conquer  or  be  miseitt* 
bly  slain,  marched  forth  to  meet  the  foe,  emboldened  <mly  by 
despair.  But  few  of  the  confederates  were  in  armor.  They 
were  furnished  with  such  weapons  as  men  grasp  when  despot, 
ism  rouses  them  to  insniTection,  msty  battle-axes,  pikes  and 
halberts,  and  two-handed  swords,  ^^ch  their  ancestors,  in 
descending  into  the  grave,  had  left  behind  them.  They  drew 
up  in  the  form  of  a  solid  wedge,  to  pierce  the  thick  conoentrio 
wall  of  steel,  apparently  as  impenetrable  as  the  cliffs  of  the 
mountains.  Thus  the  two  bodies  silently  and  sternly  ap- 
proached  each  other.  It  was  a  terrific  hour ;  for  every  man 
knew  that  one  or  the  other  of  those  hosts  must  perish  titterly. 
For  some  time  the  battle  raged,  while  the  confederates  could 
make  no  impression  whatever  upon  their  steel-clad  foes,  and 
sixty  of  them  fell  pierced  by  spears  before  one  of  their  assail* 
ants  had  been  even  wounded. 

Despair  was  fast  settling  upon  their  hearts,  when  AxoxA'i 
of  Winkeh'eid,  a  knight  of  Underwalden,  rosbed  &om  ^be 
ranks  of  the  confederates,  exclaiming — 

'*  I  will  open  a  passage  into  the  line  ;  protect,  dear  comK 
trymen,  my  wife  and  children." 

Pie  threw  himself  upon  the  bristling  spears.  A  score 
pierced  bis  body ;  grasping  them  with  the  tenacity  of  death, 
he  bore  them  to  the  earth  as  he  felL  His  comrades,  emulating 
his  spirit  of  self-sacrifice,  rushed  over  bis  bleeding  body,  and 
forced  their  way  throngh  the  gate  thus  apeaed  into  the  lineii 
The  whole  unwieldy  mass  was  thrown  into  confusion.  The 
steel-clad  warriors,  exhausted  before  the  battle  commenced, 
and  encumbered  with  their  heavy  armor,  conld  bat  feeUy  r» 
sist  their  nimble  assailants,  who  ontnumbering  them  and  over 
powering  them,  cut  them  down  in  fearful  havoc.  It  soon  b» 
came  a  general  slaughter,  and  not  less  than  two  thousand  of 


BHODOLPH     II.,    ALBERT    IV      AND    ALBBBTV.     69 

the  followers  of  Leopold  were  stretched  lifeless  upon  the 
ground.  Many  were  taken  prisoners,  and  a  few,  mounting 
their  horses,  effected  an  escape  among  the  wild  glens  of  the 
Alps. 

In  this  awful  hour  Leopold  developed  magnanimity  and 
heroism  worthy  of  his  name.  Before  the  battle  commenced, 
his  friends  urged  him  to  take  care  of  his  own  person. 

"  God  forbid,"  said  he,  "  that  I  should  endeavor  to  save 
my  own  life  and  leave  you  to  die !  I  will  share  your  fate,  and, 
with  you,  will  either  conquer  or  perish." 

When  all  was  in  confusion,  and  his  followers  were  falling 
Bke  autumn  leaves  around  him,  he  was  urged  to  put  spurs  to 
bis  horse,  and,  accompanied  by  his  body-guard,  to  escape. 

"  I  would  rather  die  honorably,"  said  Leopold,  "  than  live 
with  dishonor." 

Just  at  this  moment  his  standard-bearer  was  struck  down 
by  a  rush  of  the  confederates.  As  he  fell  he  cried  out,  "Help, 
Austria,  help !"  Leopold  frantically  sprang  to  his  aid,  grasped 
the  banner  from  his  dying  hand,  and  waving  it,  plunged  into 
the  midst  of  the  foe,  with  saber  strokes  hewing  a  path  before 
him.  He  was  soon  lost  in  the  tumult  and  the  carnage  of  the 
battle.  His  body  was  afterward  found,  covered  with  wounds, 
in  the  midst  of  heaps  of  the  dead. 

Thus  perished  the  ambitious  and  turbulent  Leopold  the  Ist, 
after  a  stormy  and  unhappy  life  of  thirty-six  years,  and  a  reiga 
of  constant  encroachment  and  war  of  twenty  years.  Life  to 
him  was  a  dark  and  somber  tempest.  Ever  dissatisfied  with 
what  he  had  attained,  and  grasping  at  more,  he  could  never 
enjoy  the  present,  and  he  finally  died  that  death  of  violence 
to  which  his  ambition  had  consigned  so  many  thousands. 
J*opold,  the  second  son  of  the  duke,  who  was  but  fifteen 
years  of  age,  succeeded  his  father,  in  the  dominion  of  the 
Swiss  estates ;  and  aft«r  a  desultory  warfare  of  a  few  months, 
was  saccessful  in  negotiating  a  peace,  or  rather  an  armea 
truce,  with  the  successful  insurgents. 


68  THB     HOU8B     OF     AVSTBIA. 

In  the  meantime,  Albert,  at  VienDa,  apparently  h^^y  in 
being  relieved  of  all  care  of  the  Swiss  provinces,  was  devol> 
ing  himself  to  the  arts  of  peace.  He  reared  new  buildingSi 
encouraged  learning,  repressed  all  disorders,  and  cultivated 
friendly  relations  with  the  neighboring  powers.  His  life  waa 
as  a  summer's  day— ^serene  and  bright.  He  and  his  &mily 
were  happy,  and  his  realms  in  prosperity.  He  died  at  his 
mral  residence  at  Laxendori^  two  miles  out  fiom  Yienoa,  on 
the  20th  of  August,  1395.  All  Austria  mourned  his  death. 
Thousands  gathered  at  his  burial,  exclaiming,  '*  We  have  lost 
our  friend,  our  &ther  1"  He  was  a  studious,  peace>kmng, 
warm-hearted  man,  devoted  to  his  &mily  and  his  fHends,  fond 
of  books  and  the  society  of  the  learned,  and  enjoying  the  cul- 
tivation of  his  garden  with  his  own  hands.  He  left,  at  bis 
death,  an  only  son,  Albert,  sixteen  yeare  of  age. 

William,  the  eldest  son  of  Leopold,  had  been  brought  up 
in  the  court  of  Vienna.  He  was  a  young  man  of  fescinating 
character  and  easily  won  all  hearts.  After  his  bitter  disap- 
pointment in  Poland  he  returned  to  Vienna,  and  now,  upon 
the  death  of  his  uncle  Albert,  he  claimed  the  reins  of  govern- 
ment as  the  oldest  member  of  the  family.  His  cousin  Albert, 
of  course,  resisted  this  claim,  demanding  that  be  himself 
should  enter  upon  the  post  which  his  father  had  occupied.  A 
violent  dissension  ensued  which  resulted  in  au  agreement 
that  they  should  administer  the  government  of  the  Anstriaa 
States,  jointly,  during  their  lives,  and  that  then  the  govern- 
ment should  be  vested  in  the  eldest  surviving  member  of  the 
family. 

Having  effected  this  arrangement,  quite  to  the  satisfaction 
of  both  parties,  Albeit,  who  inherited  much  of  the  studious 
thoughtful  turn  of  mind  of  his  &ther,  set  out  on  a  pilgrimage 
to  the  holy  land,  leaving  the  government  duiing  his  absence 
in  the  hands  of  William.  After  wanderings  and  adventaree 
so  full  of  romance  as  to  entitle  him  to  the  appellation  of  the 
"  Wonder  of  the  World,"  he  returned  to  Vienna.    He  marriea 


RHODOLPH    II.,     ALBERT    IV.     AND    A1.BEKT     V.      59 

A  daughter  of  the  Dake  of  Holland,  and  settled  down  to  • 
monkish  life.  He  entered  a  monastery  of  Carthusian  monks, 
and  took  an  active  part  in  all  their  discipline  and  devotions 
No  one  was  more  punctual  than  he  at  matins  and  vespers,  oi 
more  devout  in  confessions,  prayers,  genuflexions  and  the  di» 
vine  service  in  the  choir.  Regarding  himsell*  as  one  of  the 
fraternity,  he  called  himself  brother  Albert,  and  left  William 
mitrammeled  in  the  cares  of  state.  His  life  was  short,  for  h« 
died  the  14th  of  September,  1404,  in  the  twenty-seventh  year 
of  his  age,  leaving  a  son  Albert,  seven  years  old.  William, 
who  married  a  daughter  of  the  King  of  Naples,  survived  him 
but  two  years,  when  he  died  childless. 

A  boy  nine  years  old  now  claimed  the  inheritance  of  the 
Austrian  estates  ;  but  the  haughty  dukes  of  the  Swiss  brand) 
of  the  house  were  not  disposed  to  yield  to  his  claims.  Leo. 
pold  n.,  who  after  the  battle  of  Sempach  succeeded  his  father 
ia  the  Swiss  estates,  assumed  the  guardianship  of  Albert,  and 
the  administration  of  Austria,  till  the  young  duke  should  be 
of  age.  But  Leopold  had  two  brothers  who  also  inherited 
their  father's  energy  and  ambition,  Ernest  ruled  over  StyiTa» 
Carinthia  and  Carniola.     Frederic  governed  the  Tyrol. 

Leopold  n.  repaired  to  Vienna  to  assume  the  administra* 
tion ;  his  two  brothers  claimed  the  right  of  sharing  it  with 
him.  Conftision,  strife  and  anarchy  ensued.  Ernest,  a  very 
determined  and  violent  man,  succeeded  in  compelling  his 
brother  to  give  him  a  share  of  the  government,  and  in  the 
midst  of  incessant  quarrels,  which  often  led  to  bloody  conflictSi 
each  of  the  two  brothers  strove  to  wrest  as  much  as  possiWe 
from  Austria  before  young  Albert  should  be  of  age.  The 
nobles  availed  themselves  of  this  anarchy  to  renew  their  e»» 
peditions  of  plunder.  Unhappy  Austria  for  several  years  was 
a  scene  of  devastation  and  misery.  In  the  year  1411,  Leopold 
n.  died  without  issue.  The  young  Albert  had  now  {Uitained 
his  fifteenth  year. 

The  emperor  declared  Albert  of  age,  and  he  assumed  the 


OO  THS     HOUSE     OF     AUSTRIA. 

goveinment  as  Albert  V.  His  subjects,  weary  of  disord€e 
sad  of  the  strife  of  the  nobles,  welcomed  him  with  enthusi- 
asm. With  sagacity  and  self-denial  above  his  years,  the  young 
prince  devoted  himself  to  business,  relinquishing  all  pursuits 
of  pleasure.  Fortunately,  during  his  minority  he  had  honor 
able  and  able  teachers  who  stored  his  mind  with  useful  knowl 
edge,  and  fortified  him  with  principles  of  integrity.  The 
change  from  the  most  desolating  anarchy  to  prosperity  and 
peace  was  almost  instantaneous.  Albert  had  the  judgment 
to  surround  himself  with  able  advisers.  Salutary  laws  were 
enacted ;  justice  impartially  administered ;  the  country  was 
swept  of  the  banditti  which  infested  it,  and  while  all  the 
States  around  were  involved  in  the  miseries  of  war,  the  song 
of  the  contented  husbandman,  and  the  music  of  the  artisan's 
tools  were  heard  through  the  fields  and  in  the  towns  of  happy 
Austria. 

Sigismond,  second  son  of  the  Emperor  Charles  IV.,  King 
of  Bohemia,  was  now  emperor.  It  will  be  remembered  that 
l^  marrying  Mary,  the  eldest  daughter  of  Louis,  King  of  Hun- 
gary and  Poland,  he  received  Hungary  as  the  dower  of  his 
bride.  By  intrigue  he  also  succeeded  in  deposing  his  effemi- 
nate and  dissolute  brother,  Wenceslaus,  from  the  throne  of 
Bohemia,  and  succeeded,  by  a  new  election,  in  placing  the 
crown  upon  his  own  brow.  Thus  Sigismond  wielded  a  three- 
fold scepter.  He  was  Emperor  of  Germany,  and  King  of 
Hungary  and  of  Bohemia. 

Albert  married  the  only  daughter  of  Sigismond,  ana  a  very 
strong  affection  sprung  up  between  the  imperial  father  and  hia 
son-in-law.  They  often  visited  each  other,  and  cooperated 
very  cordially  in  measures  of  state.  The  wife  of  Sigismond 
was  a  worthless  woman,  described  by  an  Austrian  historian  as 
"one  who  believed  in  neither  God,  angel  nor  devil;  neither 
in  heaven  nor  hell."  Sigismond  had  set  his  heart  upon  be- 
queathing to  Albert  the  crowns  of  both  Hungary  and  Bohe- 
mia, which  m^Dificent  accessions  to  the  Austrian  domains 


BHOOOLPB    II.,    ALBEBT    IV.    AN»    ALBBBT  V.      91 

iro'nld  elevate  that  power  to  be  one  of  the  first  ia  Europe 
But  Barbara,  his  qaeen,  wished  to  ooovey  theae  crowns  to  the 
son  of  the  pagaa  Jaghellon,  who  had  received  the  erown  of 
Poland  as  the  dowry  of  his  relnctant  bride,  Hedwige.  ^gifr 
mond,  provoked  by  her  intrigaes  for  the  aocompli^ment  of 
this  object,  and  detesting  her  for  her  Hoentiotisness,  pnt  her 
under  arrest.  Sigismond  was  sixty-three  years  of  age,  in  very 
feeble  health,  and  daily  expecting  to  die. 

He  sammoned  a  general  convention  of  the  nobles  of  Hmii 
gary  and  Bohemia  to  meet  him  at  Znaim  in  Moravia,  near  the 
frontiers  of  Austria,  and  sent  for  Albert  and  his  daaghter  to 
hasten  to  that  place.  The  infirm  emperor,  traveling  by  daw 
stages,  succeeded  in  reaching  Znaim.  He  immediately  sam- 
moned the  nobles  to  his  presence,  and  introducing  to  them 
Albert  and  Elusabeth,  thus  afiTectingly  addressed  them : 

**  Loving  fHends,  you  know  that  since  the  commencemeofc 
of  my  reign  I  have  employed  my  utmost  exertions  to  maiB* 
tain  public  tranquillity.  N'ow,  as  I  am  about  to  die,  my  lail 
act  must  be  consistent  with  my  former  actions.  At  this  mo> 
ment  my  only  anxiety  arises  from  a  dedre  to  prevent  disseo- 
sion  and  bloodshed  after  my  decease.  It  is  praiseworthy  in  a 
prince  to  govern  well ;  but  it  is  not  less  praiseworthy  to  pjo- 
vide  a  successor  who  shall  govern  better  than  himself.  Tldi 
feme  I  now  seek,  not  from  ambition,  but  from  love  to  my  sob- 
jeots.  Ton  all  know  Albert,  Duke  of  Austria,  to  whom  in 
preference  to  all  other  princes  I  gave  my  daughter  in  maiv 
riage,  and  whom  I  adopted  as  ray  son.  You  know  that  he 
possesses  experience  and  every  virtue  becoming  a  prince.  He 
found  Austria  in  a  state  of  disorder,  and  he  has  restored  it  to 
tranquillity.  He  is  now  of  an  age  in  which  judgment  and  ex- 
perience attain  their  perfection,  and  he  is  sovereign  of  AustriSi 
which,  Ijring  between  Hungary  and  Bohemia,  formsaoonneoc> 
faig  link  betwe^i  the  two  kingdoms. 

**  I  recommend  him  to  you  as  my  sncoessor.  I  leave  yoa 
a  king,  pions,  honorable,  wise  and  brave.     I  give  him  nqr 


9S  TU8    HOITSB    OF      AUSTRIA 

kingdom,  or  rather  I  give  him  to  my  kingdoms,  to  whom  t  can 
give  or  wish  nothing  better.  Truly  you  belong  to  him  in  con 
fidderatioD  of  his  wife,  the  hereditary  princess  of  Hungary  and 
Bohemia.  Again  I  repeat  that  I  do  not  act  thus  solely  from 
k)ve  to  Albert  and  my  daughter,  but  from  a  desire  in  my  last 
moments  to  promote  the  true  welfare  of  my  people.  Happy 
are  those  who  are  subject  to  Albert.  I  am  confident  he  is  no 
less  beloved  by  you  than  by  me,  and  that  even  without  my 
exhortations  you  would  unanimously  give  him  your  votes.  But 
I  beseech  you  by  these  tears,  comfort  my  soul,  which  is  de- 
parting to  God,  by  confirming  my  choice  and  fulfilling  my 
will." 

The  emperor  was  so  overcome  with  emotion  that  he  could 
with  diflSculty  pronounce  these  last  words.  All  were  deeply 
moved  ;  some  wept  aloud  ;  others,  seizing  the  hand  of  the  em. 
peror  and  bathing  it  in  tears,  vowed  allegiance  to  Albert,  and 
declared  that  while  he  lived  they  would  recognize  no  other 
sovereign. 

The  very  next  day,  November,  1437,  Sigismond  died.  Al- 
bert and  Elizabeth  accompanied  his  remains  to  Hungary.  The 
Hungarian  diet  of  barons  unanimously  ratified  the  wishes  of 
the  late  king  in  accepting  Albert  as  his  successor.  He  then 
hastened  to  Bohemia,  and,  notwithstanding  a  few  outbursts 
of  disaffection,  was  received  with  great  demonstrations  of  joy 
by  the  citizens  of  Prague,  and  was  crowned  in  the  eathedraL 


CHAPTER   IV. 

ALBERT,    LADI8LAU8  AND   FBBDBBIO* 

Fbom  1440  TO  1489. 

Irobbabing  Honobs  op  Albebt  v.— Enoboaobhentb  or  thr  TtntKS.— The  Obbtbtum 
fiouTBO.— Tbbbob  of  tbb  HimoABiANs. — ^Deatb  op  Albbkt.— Maonanuious  Oox- 
inroT  OP  Albebt  op  Bavabia. — Intbenal  Tboubles. — Pbboooity  of  LAoiSLAns.— 

FOETtPIOATIONS  EAISBD  BT  THE  TtTBKB.— JoHH  OAFISTEtnT.— BbSOUB  OP  BBLeEAOa 

—The  Tdbks  dispebsed.— Exultation  ovee  tbb  Viotobt.— Death  op  Hunki. 
ADBB. — Jealoust  of  Ladklaus. — Hk  Death. — Bbotbeblt  QrAEBELS. — Devasta* 

nOKS  BT  THE  TlTBKa.— INVASION  OP  AOSTBIA. — BBPBAL  OP  TBB  GOMPBOIOSB.— TStl 

E^EBOB   A   FUQITITB. 

THE  kingdom  of  Bohemia  thus  attached  to  the  dachies  o4 
Austria  contained  a  population  of  some  three  millioos 
and  embraced  twenty  thousand  square  miles  of  territory,  being 
about  three  times  as  large  as  the  State  of  Massacbusettfli 
Hungary  was  a  still  more  magnificent  realm  in  extent  of  ter> 
ritory,  being  nearly  five  times  as  large  as  Bohemia,  but  inhab* 
ited  by  about  the  same  number  of  people,  widely  dispersed. 
In  addition  to  this  sudden  and  vast  accession  of  power,  Albert 
was  chosen  Emperor  of  Germany.  This  distinguished  sove» 
reign  displayed  as  much  vrisdom  and  address  in  adminifti 
tering  the  affairs  of  the  empire,  as  in  governing  his  own 
kingdoms. 

The  Turks  were  at  this  time  becoming  the  terror  of  Chris- 
tendom. Originating  in  a  small  tribe  between  the  Caspian  Sea 
and  the  Bnxine,  they  had  with  bloody  cimeters  overrun  all 
Aeoa  BGnor,  and,  crosdng  the  Hellespont,  had  intrenched  them* 
eehres  firmly  on  the  shores  of  Europe.  Crowding  <m  in  vio- 
tmioas  hosts,  armed  with  the  most  terrible  fanaticism,  they 
had  already  obtained  possession  of  Bulgaria,  Servia,  and  Bos- 


94  THB     HOUSE     OF     AUSTRIA. 

nia,  eastern  dependencies  of  Hungary,  and  all  Europe  was 
trembling  in  view  of  their  prowess,  their  ferocity  and  their 
apparently  exhaustless  legions. 

Sigismond,  beholding  the  ci-escent  of  the  Moslem  floating 
over  the  castles  of  eastern  Hungary,  became  alarmed  for  the 
kingdom,  and  sent  ambassadors  fi-om  court  to  court  to  form 
a  crusade  against  the  invaders.  He  was  eminently  successful, 
and  an  army  of  one  hundred  thousand  men  was  soon  collected, 
composed  of  the  flower  of  the  European  nobility.  The  repub- 
lics of  Venice  and  Genoa  united  to  supply  a  fleet.  With  this 
powerful  armament  Sigismond,  in  person,  commenced  his 
march  to  Constantinople,  which  city  the  Turks  were  besieging, 
to  meet  the  fleet  there.  The  Turkish  sultan  himself  gathered 
his  troops  and  advanced  to  meet  Sigismond.  The  Christian 
troops  were  utterly  routed,  and  nearly  all  put  to  the  sword. 
The  emperor  with  difficulty  escaped.  In  the  confusion  of  the 
awful  scene  of  carnage  he  threw  himself  unpercsived  into  a 
gmall  boat,  and  paddling  down  the  Danube,  as  its  flood  swept 
through  an  almost  uninhabited  wilderness,  he  reached  the 
Black  Sea,  where  he  was  so  fortunate  as  to  find  a  portion  of 
the  fleet,  and  thus,  by  a  long  circuit,  he  eventually  reached  his 
home, 

Bajazet,  the  sultan,  returned  exultant  from  this  great  vic- 
tory, and  resumed  the  siege  of  Constantinople,  which  ere  long 
fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Turks.  Amurath,  who  was  sultan 
at  the  time  of  the  death  of  Sigismond,  thought  the  moment 
propitious  for  extending  his  conquests.  He  immediately,  with 
his  legions,  overran  Servia,  a  principality  nearly  the  size  of 
the  State  of  Virginia,  and  containing  a  million  of  inhabitants. 
George,  Prince  of  Servia,  retreating  before  the  merciless  fol- 
lowers of  the  false  prophet,  threw  himself  with  a  strong  gar- 
rison into  the  fortress  of  Semendria,  and  sent  an  imploring 
message  to  Albert  for  assistance.  Servia  was  separated  from 
Hungary  only  by  the  Danube,  and  it  was  a  matter  of  infinite 
moment  to  Albert  that  the  Turk  should  not  get  possession  of 


ALBERT,     LADISLAUS     AND     F  R  S  D  £  li  I  0 .         3d 

that  province,  from  which  he  could  make  constant  forays  into 
Hungary. 

Albert  hastily  collected  an  army  and  marched  to  the  banks 
of  the  Danube  just  in  time  to  witness  the  capture  of  Semen« 
dria  and  the  massacre  of  its  garrison.  All  Hungary  was  now 
in  terror.  The  Turks  in  overwhelming  numbers  were  firmly 
intrenched  upon  the  banks  of  the  Danube,  and  were  preparing 
to  cross  the  river  and  to  supplant  the  cross  with  the  crescent  on 
all  the  plains  of  Hungary.  The  Hungarian  nobles,  in  crowds, 
flocked  to  the  standard  of  Albert,  who  made  herculean  exer- 
tions to  meet  and  roll  back  the  threatened  tide  of  invasion. 
Exhausted  by  unremitting  toil,  he  was  taken  sick  and  sud- 
denly died,  on  a  small  island  of  the  Danube,  on  the  l7th  of 
October,  1439,  in  the  forty-third  year  of  his  age.  The  death 
of  such  a  prince,  heroic  and  magnanimous,  loving  the  arts  of 
peace,  and  yet  capable  of  wielding  the  energies  of  war,  waa 
an  apparent  calamity  to  Europe. 

Albert  left  two  daughters,  but  his  queen  Elizabeth  waa 
expecting,  in  a  few  months,  to  give  birth  to  another  child. 
Every  thing  was  thus  involved  in  confusion,  and  for  a  time 
intrigue  and  violence  ran  riot.  There  were  many  diverse  par- 
ties, the  rush  of  armed  bands,  skirmishes  and  battles,  and  all 
the  great  matters  of  state  were  involved  in  an  in  exti'i  cable 
labyrinth  of  confusion.  The  queen  gave  birth  to  a  son,  who 
was  baptized  by  the  name  of  Ladislaus.  Elizabeth,  anxious 
to  secure  the  crown  of  Hungary  for  her  infant,  had  him  sol- 
emnly cro\vned  at  Alba  Regia,  by  the  Archbishop  of  Gran 
when  the  child  was  but  four  months  old. 

But  a  powerful  party  arose,  opposed  to  the  claims  of  the 
jifant,  and  strove  by  force  of  arms  to  place  upon  the  throne 
Uladislaus,  King  of  Poland  and  Lithuania,  and  son  of  the 
pagan  Jaghellon  and  the  unhappy  Hedwige.  For  two  years 
war  between  the  rival  parties  desolated  the  kingdom,  when 
Elizabeth  died.  tJladislaus  now  redoubled  his  endeavors,  and 
6nally  succeeded  in  di-iving  the  unconscious  infant  from  his 


id  THE     HOUSE     OF     AUSTRIA 

uereditarj  domain,  and  established  himself  firmly  oq  tiis 

ihrone  of  Hungary. 

The  infant  prince  was  taken  to  Bohemia.  There  also  be 
encountered  violent  opposition.  "A  child,"  said  his  oppo- 
nents,  "  can  not  govera.  It  will  be  long  before  Ladislaus  will 
be  capable  of  assuming  the  reins  of  government.  Let  vm 
choose  another  sovereign,  and  when  Ladislaus  has  attained 
the  age  of  twenty-four  we  shall  see  whether  he  deserves  the 
crown." 

This  very  sensible  advice  was  adopted,  and  thirteen  electa 
ors  were  appointed  to  choose  a  sovereign.  Their  choice  fell 
upon  Albert  of  Bavaria.  But  he,  with  a  spirit  of  magnanim- 
ity very  rare  in  that  age,  declared  that  the  crown,  of  right, 
belonged  to  Ladislaus,  and  that  he  would  not  take  it  from 
him.  They  then  chose  Frederic,  Duke  of  Styria,  who,  upon 
the  death  of  Albert,  had  been  chosen  emperor.  Frederic,  in- 
cited by  the  example  of  Albert,  also  declined,  saying,  "  I  will 
not  rob  my  relation  of  his  right."  But  anxious  for  the  peace 
of  the  empire,  he  recommended  that  they  should  choose  some 
illustrious  Bohemian,  to  whom  they  should  intrust  the  regency 
until  Ladislaus  became  of  age,  offering  himself  to  assume  the 
guardianship  of  the  young  prince. 

This  judicious  advice  was  accepted,  and  the  Bohemian 
nobles  chose  the  infant  Ladislaus  their  king.  They,  however, 
appointed  two  regents  instead  of  on(3.  The  regents  quarreled 
and  headed  two  hostile  parties.  Anarchy  and  civil  war  deso- 
lated the  kingdom,  with  fluctuations  of  success  and  discom- 
fiture  attending  the  movements  of  either  party.  Thus  several 
years  of  violence  and  blood  passed  on.  One  of  the  regents, 
George  Podiebrad,  drove  his  opponent  from  the  realm  and 
assumed  regal  authority.  To  legitimate  its  usurped  power  he 
summoned  a  diet  at  Pilgram,  in  1447,  and  submitted  the  fdi- 
lowing  question : 

*'  Is  it  advantageous  to  the  kingdom  that  Ladislaus  should 
retain  the  crown,  or  would  it  not  be  more  beneficial  to  dbooee 


ALBERT,      LADISLAUS     AND     FREDERIC.  67 

a  monarch  acquainted  with  our  language  and  customs,  and  in 
spired  with  love  of  our  country  ?" 

Warm  opposition  to  this  measure  arose,  and  the  nobles 
voted  themselves  loyal  to  Ladislaus.  While  these  events  were 
passing  in  Bohemia,  scenes  of  similar  violence  were  transpir- 
ing in  Hungary.  After  a  long  series  of  convulsions,  and  Ula- 
dislaus,  the  Polish  king,  who  had  attained  the  crown  of  Hun- 
gary, having  been  slain  in  a  battle  with  the  Turks,  a  diet  ol 
Hungarian  nobles  was  assembled  and  they  also  declared  the 
young  Ladislaus  to  be  their  king.  They  consequently  wrote 
to  the  Emperor  Frederic,  Duke  of  Styria,  who  had  assumed 
the  guardianship  of  the  prince,  requesting  that  he  might  be 
«ent  to  Hungary.  Ladislaus  Posthumous,  so-called  in  conse- 
quence of  his  birth  after  the  death  of  his  father,  was  then  but 
ax  years  of  age. 

The  Austrian  States  were  also  in  a  condition  of  similar 
confusion,  rival  aspirants  grasping  at  power,  feuds  agitating 
every  province,  and  all  moderate  men  anxious  for  that  repose 
which  could  only  be  found  by  imiting  in  the  claims  of  Ladis- 
laus for  the  crown.  Thus  Austria,  Bohemia  and  Hungary, 
so  singularly  and  harmoniously  united  under  Albert  V.,  so 
suddenly  dissevered  and  scattered  by  the  death  of  Albert, 
were  now,  after  years  of  turmoil,  all  reuniting  under  the  child 
Ladislaus. 

Frederic,  however,  the  faithful  guardian  of  the  young 
prince,  was  devoting  the  utmost  care  to  his  education,  and 
refused  to  accede  to  the  urgent  and  reiterated  requests  to 
send  the  young  monarch  to  his  realms.  When  Ladislaus  was 
about  ten  years  of  age  the  Emperor  Frederic  visited  the  pope 
at  Rome,  and  took  Ladislaus  in  his  glittering  suite.  The  pre- 
cocious child  here  astonished  tht)  learned  men  of  the  court, 
by  delivering  an  oration  in  Latin  before  the  consistory,  and  by 
giving  many  other  indications  of  originality  and  vigor  of  mind 
fer  above  his  years.  The  pope  became  much  attached  to  the 
youthfiil  sovereign  of  three  such  important  realms,  and   m 


68  THB     H01TSB     OF     AUSTBlA. 

Frederic  was  about  to  visit  Naples,  Ladislaus  reimdDed  • 
guest  in  the  imperial  palace. 

Deputies  from  tiie  three  nations  repaired  to  Rome  to  urge 
the  pope  to  restore  to  them  their  young  sover^gn.  Failii^ 
in  this,  they  endeavored  to  induce  ladislaus  to  escape  with 
thenu  This  plan  also  was  discovered  and  foiled.  The  nobles 
were  much  irritated  by  these  disappointments,  and  they  re- 
solved to  rescue  him  by  force  of  arms.  All  over  Hungary, 
Bohemia  and  Austria  there  was  a  general  rising  of  the  no- 
bles, nationalities  being  merged  in  the  common  cause,  and  all 
hearts  united  and  throbbing  with  a  common  desire.  An  army 
of  sixteen  thousand  men  was  raised.  Frederic,  alarmed  by 
these  formidable  preparations  for  war,  surrendered  Ladislaui 
and  he  was  conveyed  in  triumph  to  Vienna.  A  numerous  as- 
semblage  of  the  nobles  of  the  three  nations  was  convened,  and 
it  was  settled  that  the  young  king,  during  his  minority,  ^ould 
remain  at  Vienna,  under  the  care  of  his  maternal  uncle,  CounH 
Cilli,  who,  in  the  meantime,  was  to  administer  the  govern- 
ment of  Austria.  George  Podiebrad  was  intrusted  with  the 
regency  of  Bohemia ;  and  John  Hunniades  was  appointed  re* 
gent  of  Hungary. 

Ladislaus  was  now  thirteen  years  of  age.  The  mosl 
learned  men  of  the  age  were  appointed  as  his  teachers,  and 
he  pursued  his  studies  with  great  vigor.  Count  Cilli,  how- 
ever, an  ambitious  and  able  man,  soon  gained  almost  unlimited 
control  over  the  mind  of  his  young  ward,  and  became  so  arro- 
gant and  dictatorial,  filling  every  important  oflSce  with  bit 
own  especial  friends,  and  removing  those  who  displeased  him, 
that  general  discontent  was  excited  and  conspiracy  was  formed 
against  him.  Cilli  was  driven  from  Vienna  with  insults  and 
threats,  and  the  conspirators  placed  the  regency  in  the  hands 
of  a  select  number  of  their  adherents. 

While  affairs  were  in  this  condition,  John  Hunniades,  as 
regent,  was  administering  the  government  of  Hungary  with 
great  vigor  and  sagacity.    He  was  acquiring  so  much  renown 


ilLBBRT,     LADI8LATT8     AND     FBBDBBIO.  CtC 

that  Count  Cilli  regarded  him  with  a  very  jealous  eye,  and 
excited  the  suspicions  of  the  young  king  that  Hutioiades  waa 
seeking  for  himself  the  sovereignty  of  Hungary.  CiUi  en- 
deavored to  lure  Hunniades  to  Vienna,  that  he  might  seize  hia 
person,  but  the  sagacious  warrior  was  too  wily  to  be  thua 
entrapped. 

The  Turks  were  now  in  the  full  tide  of  victory.  They  had 
conquered  Constantinople,  fortified  both  sides  of  the  Bospo 
rus  and  the  Hellespont,  overrun  Greece  and  planted  them 
selves  firmly  and  impregnably  on  the  shores  of  Europe.  Ma- 
homet H.  was  sultan,  succeeding  his  fether  Amurath.  H« 
raised  an  army  of  two  hundred  thousand  men,  who  were  ah 
inspired  with  that  intense  fanatic  ferocity  with  which  the 
Moslem  then  regarded  the  Christian.  Marching  resistlessly 
through  Bulgaria  and  Servia,  he  contemplated  the  immediate 
conquest  of  Hungary,  the  bulwark  of  Europe.  He  advanced 
to  the  banks  of  the  Danube  and  laid  siege  to  Belgrade,  a  very 
important  and  strongly  fortified  town  at  the  point  where  the 
Save  enters  the  great  central  river  of  eastern  Europe. 

Such  an  army,  flushed  with  victory  and  inspired  with  all 
the  energies  of  fanaticism,  appalled  the  European  powers, 
Ladislaus  was  but  a  boy,  studious  and  scholarly  in  his  tastes, 
having  developed  but  little  physical  energy  and  no  executive 
vigor.  He  was  very  handsome,  very  refined  in  his  tastes  and 
courteous  in  his  address,  and  he  cultivated  with  great  care  the 
golden  ringlets  which  clustered  around  his  shoulders.  At  the 
time  of  this  re'arful  invasion  Ladislaus  was  on  a  visit  to  Buda, 
one  of  the  capitals  of  Hungary,  on  the  Danube,  but  about 
three  hundred  miles  above  Belgrade.  The  young  monarch, 
with  his  favorite,  Cilli,  fled  ingloriously  to  Vienna,  leaving 
Hunniades  to  breast  as  he  could  the  Turkish  hosts.  But  Hun- 
niades  was,  fortunately,  equal  to  the  emergence. 

A  Franciscan  monk,  John  Capistrun,  endowed  with  the 
eloquence  of  Peter  the  Hermit,  traversed  Germany,  displaying 
the  cross  and  rousing  Christians  to  defend  Europe  from  th« 


fO  TBB    HOirSB    OP    AUfiTBtA. 

tofidelft.  He  eoon  (xrfiected  a  motley  mass  <^  fottj  ^KMimid 
men,  rostios,  priests,  students,  8crfdi««,  unfumed,  ondiBoipBned, 
ft  rabUe  root,  who  Mowed  him  to  the  roideEvoiM  where  Haii- 
niadee  had  saooeeded  in  collecting  a  large  force  <^  the  baid 
barons  and  steel^^lad  warriors  of  Hnngary.  The  experienced 
ehief  gladly  received  this  heterogeneous  mass,  and  soon  armed 
(hem,  brought  them  into  the  ranks  and  subjected  them  to 
the  severe  discipline  of  military  drilL 

At  the  head  of  this  band,  which  was  inspired  with  seal 
equal  to  that  of  the  Turk,  the  brave  Hunniades,  in  a  fleet  of 
boats,  descended  the  Danube.  The  river  in  front  of  Belgrade 
was  covered  with  the  flotilla  of  the  Turks.  The  wall  in  many 
l^ces  was  broken  down,  and  at  other  points  in  the  wall  they 
had  obtained  a  foothold,  and  the  crescent  was  proudly  no- 
ihrled  to  the  breeze.  T^e  feeble  garrison,  worn  out  with  toil 
and  perishing  with  &mine,  were  in  the  last  stages  of  despair. 
Hunniades  came  down  upon  the  Turkish  flotilla  like  an  inund»> 
tion ;  both  parties  fought  with  almost  unprecedented  ferocity, 
but  the  Chiistians  drove  every  thing  before  them,  ranking,  di» 
pei'dng,  and  capturing  the  boats,  which  were  by  no  means  pre- 
pared for  so  sudden  ^id  terrible  an  assault.  The  iumiense  rein* 
forcement,  with  anus  and  provisions,  thus  entered  the  city,  and 
eecmiug  the  navigation  of  the  Danube  and  the  Save,  opened 
the  way  for  continued  supplies.  The  immense  hosts  of  the 
Mohammedans  now  girdled  the  city  in  a  semicircle  on  the 
land  side.  Their  tents,  gorgeously  embellished  and  surmounted 
with  the  orescent,  glittered  in  the  rays  of  the  sun  as  iar  as  the 
eye  could  extend.  Squadrons  of  steel-clad  horsemen  swept 
the  field,  while  bands  of  the  besiegers  pressed  the  city  with 
out  mtermissioD,  night  and  day. 

Mohammed,  irritated  by  this  mtexpected  aocessioD  of 
strength  to  the  besieged,  in  his  passion  (Mdered  an  immediate 
and  simultaneous  attack  npon  the  town  by  his  whole  force 
The  battle  was  long  and  bloody,  both  parties  stmggUng  with 
utter  desperation.    Hie  Tnrks  were  repulsed.    After  one  (rf 


ALBEBT,    LADI8LAVS    AVD   VBBDIBtO.  tl 

Ae  kxigest  oontiDaoos  oonflicto  reewded  in  history,  lasting  aB 
one  night,  and  all  the  following  day  until  the  going  down  of 
Ihe  snn,  the  Tarka,  ieavii^  thirty  thousand  of  thdr  dead  b^ 
ncath  the  ramparts  of  the  city,  and  taking  with  them  the  sxxU 
tan  desperately  wonnded,  stracR  tneir  tents  in  tbe  darkness  of 
the  night  and  retreated. 

Great  was  the  exultation  in  Hungary,  In  <iermany  and  all 
over  Europe.  But  this  joy  was  speedily  olonded  by  tbe  int^ 
Kgence  that  Hnnniades,  the  deliverer  of  Bnrope  from  Moslem 
invasion,  exhausted  with  toil,  had  been  seized  by  a  fever  and 
bad  died.  It  is  said  that  the  young  King  Ladislans  rejoiced 
in  his  death,  for  he  was  greatly  annoyed  in  having  a  snbjeot 
attain  such  a  degree  of  splendor  as  to  cast  bis  own  name  into 
inagnificanoe.  Hunniades  left  two  eons,  ladislaus  and  Mat> 
(hias.  file  king  and  Cilli  numifested  the  meanest  jealonsy  ia 
reference  to  these  young  men,  and  fearful  that  the  renown  of 
their  father,  which  had  inspired  pride  and  gratitude  in  every 
Hungarian  heait,  might  give  them  power,  they  did  every  thing 
they  could  to  humiliate  and  depress  them.  The  king  Inred 
them  both  to  Buda,  where  he  perfidiously  beheaded  the  eldest, 
Ladlslaus,  for  wounding  CUli,  in  defending  himself  from  so 
attaok  which  the  implacable  count  had  made  upon  him,  and  he 
also  threw  the  younger  son,  Matthias,  into  a  prison. 

The  widow  of  Hunniades,  the  heroic  mother  of  these  ohil> 
dren,  with  a  spirit  worthy  of  the  wife  of  her  renowned  hna> 
band,  called  the  nobles  to  her  aid.  They  rallied  in  great 
numbers,  roused  to  indignation.  The  inglorious  king,  terrified 
by  the  storm  he  had  raised,  released  Matthias,  and  fled  fix)iD 
Buda  to  Vienna,  pursued  by  the  execrations  and  menaces  of 
the  Hangarians. 

He  soon  after  repaired  to  Prague,  in  Bohemia,  to  s(^^imm 
llki  marriage  with  Migdalen,  daughter  of  Charles  VIL,  King 
of  France.  He  had  jnst  reached  the  city,  and  was  making 
preparations  for  his  marriage  in  unusual  ^lender,  when  be  waa 
aittacked  by  a  malignant  disease,  supposed  to  be  the  pfa^ne 


72  THB     HOUSE     OP     AlTSTBIa.. 

and  died  after  a  sickness  of  but  thirty-six  hours.  The  unhaf^ 
king)  who,  through  the  stormy  scenes  of  bis  short  life,  had 
developed  no  grandeur  of  soul,  was  oppressed  with  the  awful- 
ness  of  passing  to  the  final  judgment.  In  the  ordinances  of 
(he  Church  be  sought  to  find  solace  for  a  sinful  and  a  troubled 
spirit.  Having  received  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper, 
with  dying  lips  he  commenced  repeating  the  Lord's  prayer. 
He  had  just  uttered  the  words  "  deliver  us  from  evil,"  whei 
his  spirit  took  its  flight  to  the  judgment  seat  of  Christ. 

Frederic,  the  emperor,  Dnke  of  Styria,  was  wow  the  oldest 
lineal  descendant  of  Rhodolph  of  Hapsburg,  founder  of  the 
house  of  Austria.  The  imperial  dignity  had  now  degener- 
ated  into  almost  an  empty  title.  The  Germanic  empire  con- 
ristcd  of  a  few  large  sovereignties  and  a  conglomeration  of 
|ietty  dukedoms,  principalities,  and  States  of  vaiious  names, 
very  loosely  held  together,  in  their  heterogeneous  and  inde* 
pendent  rulers  and  governments,  by  one  nominal  sovereign 
upon  whom  the  jealous  States  were  willing  to  confer  but  little 
real  power.  A  writer  at  that  time,  JEneas  Sylvius,  addressing 
the  Germans,  says : 

"  Although  you  acknowledge  the  emperor  for  your  king 
and  master,  he  possesses  but  a  precarious  sovereignty ;  he  has 
no  power ;  you  only  obey  him  when  you  choose ;  and  you  are 
seldom  inclined  to  obey.  You  are  all  desirous  to  be  fi-ee; 
neither  the  princes  nor  the  States  render  to  him  what  is  due. 
He  has  no  revenue,  no  treasure.  Hence  you  are  involved  in 
endless  contests  and  daily  wars.  Hence  also  rapine,  murder, 
conflagrations,  and  a  thousand  evils  which  arise  from  divided 
authority." 

Upon  the  death  of  Ladislaus  there  was  a  great  rush  and 
grasping  for  the  vacant  thrones  of  Bohemia  and  Hungary, 
and  for  possession  of  the  rich  dukedoms  of  Austria.  After  a 
long  conflict  the  Austrian  estates  were  divided  into  thiee  por< 
tions.  Frederic,  the  emperor,  took  Upper  Austria ;  his  brother 
Albert,  who  had  succeeded  to  the  Swiss  estates,  took  Lower 


AIBBBl,    LADISLAUS    ▲  H  D    FBBDBBIO.  9t 

Austria ;  Sigismond,  Albert's  nephew,  a  man  of  great  &aergf 
of  character,  took  Cariuthia.  The  three  ocoa{aed  the  paiaoe 
in  Vienna  in  joint  residence. 

The  energetic  regent,  George  Podiebrad,  by  adroit  dipio* 
macy  succeeded,  after  an  arduous  contest,  in  obtaining  the 
election  by  the  Bohemian  nobles  to  the  throne  of  Bohemia. 
The  very  day  he  was  chosen  he  was  inaugurated  at  Prague, 
and  though  rival  candidates  united  with  the  pope  to  depose 
him,  he  maintained  his  poeiticm  against  them  alL 

Frederic,  the  emperor,  had  be«i  quite  sanguine  in  the 
hopes  of  obtaining  the  crown  of  Bohemia.  Bitterly  disap> 
pointed  there,  he  at  first  made  a  show  of  hostile  resistance ; 
bnt  thinking  better  of  the  matter,  he  concluded  to  acquiesce 
in  the  elevation  of  Podiebrad- '  v  cure  amicable  relations  with 
Aim,  and  to  seek  his  aid  m  promotion  of  his  efforts  to  obtain 
the  crown  of  Hungary.  Here  again  the  emperor  failed.  Tlie 
nobles  assembled  in  great  strength  at  Buda,  and  elected  nnani* 
mously  Matthias,  the  only  surviving  son  of  the  heroic  Hun- 
niades,  whose  memory  was  embalmed  in  the  hearts  of  all  the 
Hungariaus.  The  boy  then,  for  he  was  but  a  boy,  and  was 
styled  contemptuously  by  the  disappointed  Frederic  the  boy 
king,  entered  into  an  alliance  with  Podiebrad  for  mutual  pro- 
tection,  and  engaged  the  hand  of  bis  daughter  in  marriagOi 
Thus  was  the  great  kingdom  of  Austria,  but  recently  so  pow- 
erful in  the  union  of  all  the  Austrian  States  with  Bohemia  and 
Hungary,  again  divided  and  didntegrated.  The  emperor,  in 
his  vexation,  foolishly  sent  an  army  of  five  thousand  men  into 
Hungary,  insanely  hoping  to  take  the  crown  by  force  of  armS| 
but  he  was  soon  compelled  to  relinquish  the  hopeless  ente^ 
pnae. 

And  now  Frederic  and  Albert  began  to  quarrel  at  Vienna. 
The  emperor  was  arrogant  and  domineering.  Albert  was 
irritable  and  jealous.  Fii'st  came  angry  words ;  then  the  enp 
Ikting  of  partisans,  and  then  all  the  miseries  of  fierce  aud  da 
termined  civil  war.    The  capital  was  divided  into  hostile  £m> 


94  THB     HOUSE     OP    AUSTBIA. 

tions,  aod  the  whole  country  was  ravaged  by  the  sweep  oi 

armies.  The  populace  of  Vienna,  espousing  the  cause  of  Ai' 
belt,  rose  in  insurrection,  pillaged  the  houses  of  the  adherents 
of  Frederic,  drove  Frederic,  with  his  wife  and  infant  child,  into 
the  citadel,  and  invested  the  Ibrtress.  Albert  placed  himself 
at  the  head  of  the  insurgents  and  conducted  the  siege.  The 
emperor,  though  he  had  but  two  hundred  men  in  the  gar- 
rison, held  oat  valiantly.  But  famine  would  soon  have  com' 
pelled  him  to  capitulate,  had  not  the  King  of  Bohemia,  with 
a  force  of  thirteen  thousand  men,  marched  to  his  aid.  Podic' 
brad  relieved  the  emperor,  and  secured  a  verbal  reconciliation 
between  the  two  angry  brothers,  which  lasted  until  the  Bo- 
hemian forces  had  returned  to  their  country,  when  the  feud 
burst  out  anew  and  with  increased  violence.  The  emperor 
procured  the  ban  of  the  empire  against  his  brother,  and  the 
pope  excommunicated  him.  Still  Albert  fought  fiercely,  and 
the  strife  raged  without  intermission  until  Albert  suddenly 
died  on  the  4th  of  December,  1463. 

The  Turks,  who,  during  all  these  years,  had  been  making 
predatory  excursions  along  the  frontiers  of  Hungary,  now, 
fai  three  strong  bands  of  ten  thousand  each,  overran  Servis 
and  Bosnia,  and  spread  their  devastations  even  into  the  hear! 
of  lilyria,  as  far  as  the  metropolitan  city  of  Laybach.  The 
ravages  of  fire  and  sword  marked  their  progress.  They  burnt 
every  village,  every  solitary  cottage,  and  the  inhabitants  wei*e 
indiscriminately  slain.  Frederic,  the  emperor,  a  man  of  but 
little  energy,  was  at  his  country  residence  at  Lintz,  apparently 
more  anxious,  writes  a  contemporary,  "  to  shield  his  plants 
from  frost,  than  to  defend  his  domains  against  these  bar- 
barians." 

The  bold  barons  of  Carniola,  however,  rallied  their  vassals, 
raised  an  army  of  twenty  thousand  men,  and  drove  the  Turks 
back  to  the  Bosphorus.  But  the  invaders,  during  their  unim- 
peded march,  had  slain  six  thousand  Christians,  and  they  car' 
ried  back  with  them  eight  thousand  captives. 


AlBBST,    LADISLATTS    AND     PBBDBRIO.  Tfl 

Again,  a  few  years  after,  the  Turks,  with  &  still  larger 
trmy,  rushed  through  the  defiles  of  the  IlljrriaD  mountains. 
opon  the  plains  of  Carinthia.  Their  maich  was  like  the  flow 
of  volcanic  fire.  They  left  behind  them  ntter  desolatioa, 
■nonldering  hearth-stones  and  fields  crimsoned  with  blood. 
At  length  they  retired  of  their  own  accord^  dragging  after 
them  twenty  thousand  captives.  During  a  period  of  twenty- 
•even  years,  under  the  imbecile  reign  of  Frederic,  the  very 
keart  of  Europe  was  twelve  times  scourged  by  the  inroads  of 
these  savages.  No  tongue  can  tell  the  woes  which  were  in- 
flicted upon  humanity.  Existence,  to  the  masses  of  the  peo« 
p!e,  in  that  day,  must  indeed  have  been  a  curse.  Ground  to 
the  very  lowest  depths  of  poverty  by  the  exactions  of  eccle* 
aastics  and  nobles,  in  rags,  starving,  with  no  social  or  intel* 
lectnal  joys,  they  might  indeed  have  envied  the  beasts  of  the 
field. 

The  conduct  of  Frederic  seems  to  be  marked  with  increas* 
»ng  treachery  and  perfidy.  Jealous  of  the  growing  power 
of  George  Podiebrad,  he  instigated  Matthias,  King  of  Hun- 
gary, to  make  war  upon  Bohemia,  promising  Matthias  the 
Bohemian  crown.  Infamously  the  King  of  Hungary  accepted 
the  bribe,  and  raising  a  powerful  army,  invaded  Bohemia,  to 
wrest  the  crown  fiom  his  father-in-law.  His  armies  were 
pressing  on  so  victoriously,  in  conjunction  with  thc«e  of  Fred- 
eric, that  the  emperor  was  now  alarmed  lest  Matthias,  onit* 
ing  the  crowns  of  Hungary  and  Bohemia,  should  become  too 
powerful.  He  therefore  not  only  abandoned  him,  but  stirred 
up  an  insuiTection  among  the  Hungarian  nobles,  which  oom> 
pelled  Matthias  to  abandon  Bohemia  and  return  home. 

Matthias,  having  quelled  the  insurrection,  was  so  enraged 
with  the  emperor,  that  he  declared  war  against  him,  and  im- 
mediately invaded  Austria.  The  emperor  was  now  so  dj* 
tmsted  that  he  could  not  find  a  single  ally.  Austria  alooe, 
was  no  mat«h  for  Hungary.  Matthias  overran  all  Lower  Aa» 
tria,  took  all  the  fortresses  npon  the  Dannbe,  and  invested 


n  THE     HOTTSBOP     AUSTRIA. 

Vienna.  The  emperor  fled  in  dismay  to  Lintz,  ;iud  was  obliged 
to  purchase  aa  ignominious  peace  by  an  immense  sum  of 
money,  all  of  which  was  of  course  to  be  extorted  by  taxes  on 
the  miserable  and  starving  peasantry. 

Poland,  Bohemia  and  the  Turks,  now  all  pounced  upon 
Hungary,  and  Frederic,  deeming  this  a  providential  indica- 
tion that  Hungary  could  not  enforce  the  fulfillment  of  the 
treaty,  refused  to  pay  the  money.  Matthias,  greatly  exasper 
ated,  made  the  best  terms  he  could  with  Poland,  and  again 
led  his  armies  in  Austria.  For  four  years  the  warfare  raged 
fiercely,  when  all  Lower  Austria,  including  the  capital,  was 
in  the  hands  of  Matthias,  and  the  emperor  was  driven  from 
his  hereditary  domains  ;  and,  accompanied  by  a  few  followers, 
he  wandered  a  fugitive  from  city  to  city,  from  convent  to  coop 
Tent,  seeking  md  from  all,  but  finding  none. 


CHAPTER    V. 

THE  EMPERORS  FREDERIC  II.  AND  MAXIMILIAN  I 

From  1477  to  1500 

Wandbeinos  op  tite  Empbrob  Fbederio.— Proposed  Alliancr  with  the  Ditkb  o* 
Burgundy. — Mutual  Distrust. — Marriage  of  Mary. — The  Aoe  of  Chivalry.— 
The  Motive  inducing  the  Lord  of  Praunstein  to  declare  War. — Death  of 
Frederic  II. — The  Emperor's  Secret. — Drsions  of  the  Turks. — Death  of  Ma- 
homet II. — First  Establishment  of  standing  Armies. — Use  of  Gunpowder.— 
Energy  of  Maximilian. — French  Aggressions. — The  League  to  expel  thb 
French. — Disappointments  of  Maximilian. — Bribing  the  Pope. — Invasion  op 
Italy. — Capture  and  Recapture. — The  Chevaliek  Db  Bayard. 

ADVERSITY  only  developed  move  fully  the  weak  and 
ignoble  character  of  Frederic.  He  wandered  abont,  rec- 
ognized Emperor  of  Germany,  but  a  fugitive  from  his  own 
Austrian  estates,  occasionally  encountering  pity,  but  never 
sympathy  or  respect.  Matthias  professed  his  readiness  to  sur- 
render Austria  back  to  Frederic  so  soon  as  he  would  fulfill  the 
treaty  by  paying  the  stipulated  money.  Frederic  was  accom- 
panied in  his  wanderings  by  his  son  Maximilian,  a  remarkably 
elegant  lad,  fourteen  years  of  age.  They  came  to  the  court 
of  the  powerful  Duke  of  Burgundy.  The  dukedom  extended 
over  wide  realms,  populous  and  opulent,  and  the  duke  had  the 
power  of  a  sovereign  but  not  the  regal  title.  He  was  ambi- 
tious of  elevating  his  dukedom  into  a  kingdom  and  of  being 
crowned  king ;  and  he  agreed  to  give  his  only  daughter  and 
heiress,  Mary,  a  beautiful  and  accomplished  girl,  to  the  emper- 
or's son  Maximilian,  if  Frederic  would  confer  upon  his  estates 
the  regal  dignity  and  crown  him  king.  The  bargain  was 
made,  and  Maximilian  and  Mary  both  were  delighted,  for  they 
regarded  each  other  with  all  the  warmth  of  young  lovers. 
Mary,  heiress  to  the  dukedom  of  Burgundy,  was  a  prize  which 


T8  THBHOrSEOFAUSlBIA. 

any  monarch  might  covet ;  and  half  the  princes  of  Bnrop4 
were  strivdig  for  her  band. 

.  But  now  came  a  new  difficulty.  Neither  the  emperor  nor 
duke  had  the  slightest  contidence  in  each  other.  The  King  ol 
France,  who  had  hoped  to  obtain  the  hand  of  Mary  for  his  aon 
the  danphin,  caused  the  suspicion  to  be  whispered  into  the  ear 
of  Frederic  that  the  Duke  of  Burgundy  sought  the  kingly 
crown  only  as  the  first  step  to  the  imperial  crown  ;  and  that 
80  soon  as  the  dukedom  was  elevated  into  a  kingdom,  Charlea, 
the  Duke  of  Burgundy,  would  avail  himself  of  his  increased 
power,  to  dethrone  Frederic  and  grasp  the  crown  of  Grermany, 
'niis  was  probably  all  true.  Charles,  folly  understanding  the  per- 
fidious nature  of  Frederic,  did  not  dare  to  solemnize  the  mar- 
riage untn  he  first  should  be  crowned.  Frederic,  on  the  other 
hand,  did  not  dare  to  crown  the  duke  until  the  maniage  wae 
solemnized,  for  he  had  no  confidence  that  the  duke,  after  bar- 
ing-attained  the  regal  dignity,  would  fiilfill  his  pledge. 

Charles  was  for  hurrying  the  coronation,  Frederic  for  puaiw 
tag  the  marriage.  A  magnificent  throne  was  erected  in  the 
cathedral  at  Treves,  and  preparations  were  making  on  ths 
grandest  scale  for  the  coronation  solemnities,  when  FrederiCi 
who  did  not  like  to  tell  the  dnke  plnmply  to  his  face  that  he 
was  fearful  of  being  cheated,  extricated  himself  fi-om  his  evor 
barrassment  by  feigning  important  business  which  called  him 
suddenly  to  Cologne.  A  scene  of  petty  and  disgraceful  in> 
trigues  ensued  between  the  exasperated  duke  and  emper(»:, 
and  there  were  the  marching  and  the  countermarching  of  h<»> 
tile  bands  and  the  usual  miseries  of  war,  imtil  the  death  ci 
Duke  Charles  at  the  battle  of  Nancy  on  the  5th  of  Jauoary, 
1477. 

The  King  of  France  now  made  a  desperate  endeavor  to 
obtain  the  hand  of  Mary  for  his  son.  One  of  the  novel  aotl 
of  this  imperial  courtship,  was  to  send  an  army  into  Burgundy, 
which  wrested  a  large  portion  of  Mary's  dominions  fix>m  her, 
which  the  king,  Louis  XI.,  refosed  to  surrender  unless  Mary 


FB£D£BIC     II,     AXD      MAXIMILIAN     I.  76 

would  marry  his  son.  Many  of  her  nobles  urged  the  claims 
of  France.  But  love  m  the  heart  of  Mary  was  stronger  than 
political  expediency,  and  more  persuasive  than  the  entreaties 
of  iier  nobles.  To  relieve  herself  from  importunity,  she  was 
hurriedly  maiiied,  three  months  after  the  death  of  her  father, 
by  proxy  to  MaximilLin. 

In  August  the  young  prince,  but  eighteen  years  of  age, 
with  a  splendid  retinue,  made  his  public  entry  into  Ghent. 
His  commanding  person  and  the  elegance  of  his  manners,  at- 
tracted universal  admiration.  His  subjects  rallied  with  enthu- 
siasm around  him,  and,  guided  by  his  prowess,  in  a  continued 
warfare  of  five  years,  drove  the  invading  French  from  their 
territories.  But  death,  the  goal  to  which  every  one  tends, 
was  suddenly  and  unexpectedly  reached  by  Mary.  She  died 
the  7th  of  August,  1479,  leaving  two  infant  children,  Philip 
and  Margaret. 

The  Emperor  Frederic  also  succeeded,  by  diplomatic  cun- 
ning, in  convening  the  diet  of  electors  and  choosing  Maximil- 
ian as  his  successor  to  the  imperial  throne.  Frederic  and 
Maximilian  now  united  in  the  endeavor  to  recover  Austria 
from  the  King  of  Hungary.  The  German  princes,  however, 
notwithstanding  the  summons  of  the  emperor,  refused  to  take 
any  part  iu  the  private  quarrels  of  Austria,  and  thus  the  battle 
would  have  to  be  fought  between  the  troops  of  Maximilian 
and  of  Matthias.  Maximilian  prudently  decided  that  it  would 
be  better  to  purchase  the  redemption  of  the  territory  with 
money  than  with  blood.  The  afiair  was  in  negotiation  when 
Matthias  was  taken  sick  and  died  the  loth  of  July,  1490.  He 
left  no  heir,  and  the  Hungarian  nobles  chose  Ladislaus,  King 
oi  Bohemia,  to  succeed  him.  Maximilian  had  been  confident 
of  obtaining  the  crown  of  Hungary.  Exasperated  by  the  dis- 
appointment, he  relinquished  all  idea  of  purchasing  his  patri- 
monial estates,  but  making  a  sudden  rush  with  his  troops  upon 
the  Hungarians,  he  drove  them  out  of  Austria,  and  pursued 
them  far  over  the  frontiers  of  Hungary.     Ladislaus,  the  new 


80  Tub      house     op     AUSTRIA. 

Kiug  of  Hungary,  now  listened  to  terms  of  peace.  A  aiiga> 
lar  treaty  was  mada  The  Bohemian  king  was  to  retaio  th« 
crown  of  Hungary,  officiating  as  reigning  monarch,  while  Man* 
milian  was  to  have  the  H^  of  King  of  Hungary.  Ladislaub 
relinquished  all  claim  to  the  Austrian  territories,  and  paid  a 
large  sum  of  money  as  indemnity  for  the  war. 

Thus  Austria  again  comes  into  independent  existence,  to 
watch  amidst  the  tumult  and  strife  of  Europe  for  oppoituni 
ties  to  enlarge  her  territories  and  increase  her  power,  Maxi- 
milian was  a  prince,  energetic  and  brave,  who  would  not  allow 
any  opportunity  to  escape  him.  In  those  dark  days  of  vio« 
lence  and  of  blood,  every  petty  quarrel  was  settled  by  the 
sword.  All  over  Germany  the  clash  of  steel  against  steel  was 
ever  resounding.  Not  only  kings  and  dukes  engaged  in  warS| 
bnt  the  most  insignificant  baron  would  gather  his  few  retain- 
crs  around  him  and  declare  formal  war  against  the  occupant 
of  the  adjacent  castle.  The  spirit  of  chivalry,  so  called,  was 
so  rampant  that  private  individuals  would  send  a  ohall^ige 
to  the  emperor.  Contemporary  writers  record  many  coriouB 
specimens  of  these  declarations  of  war.  The  Lord  of  Praun* 
stein  declared  war  against  the  city  of  Frankfort,  because  a 
young  lady  of  that  city  refused  to  dance  with  his  uncle  at  ft 
baU. 

Frederic  was  now  suffering  from  the  infirmities  of  age, 
Surrendeiing  the  administration  of  afl^rs,  both  in  Austria  and 
over  the  estates  of  the  empire,  to  Maximilian,  he  retired,  with 
his  wife  and  three  young  daughters,  to  Lintz,  wh  re  he  de- 
voted  himself,  at  the  close  of  his  long  and  turbulent  reign,  to 
the  peaceftil  pursuits  of  rural  life.  A  cancerous  affection  of 
the  leg  rendered  it  necessary  for  him  to  submit  to  the  ampu* 
tation  of  the  limb.  He  submitted  to  the  painful  operation 
with  the  greatest  fortitude,  and  taking  up  his  severed  limb, 
with  his  accustomed  phlegm  remarked  to  those  standing  by, 

**  What  difference  is  there  between  an  emperor  and  a  peasi 
ant  ?    Or  rather,  is  not  a  sound  peasant  better  than  a  sick  eat 


I 


FBiiDBBIO     II        AND     MAXIMILIAN     I.  81 

peror  ?  Yet  I  hope  to  enjoy  the  greatest  good  which  can  nap- 
pen  to  man — a  happy  exit  from  this  transitory  life." 

The  shock  of  a  second  amputation,  which  from  the  vitiated 
state  of  his  blood  seemed  necessary,  was  too  great  for  his  en- 
feebled frame  to  bear.  He  died  August  19th,  1493,  seventy- 
eight  years  of  age,  and  after  a  reign  of  fifty-three  years.  He 
was  what  would  be  called,  in  these  days,  an  ultra  temper- 
ance man,  never  drinking  even  wine,  and  expressing  ever  the 
strongest  abhorrence  of  alcoholic  drinks,  calling  them  the 
parent  of  all  vices.  He  seems  to  have  anticipated  the  future 
greatness  of  Austria ;  for  he  had  imprinted  upon  all  his  books, 
engraved  upon  his  plate  and  carved  into  the  walls  of  his  pal- 
ace a  mysterious  species  of  anagram  composed  of  the  five  vow- 
els,  A,  E,  I,  O,  U. 

The  significance  of  this  great  secret  no  one  could  obtain 
from  him.  It  of  course  excited  great  curosity,  as  it  every- 
where met  the  eye  of  the  public.  After  his  death  the  riddle 
was  solved  by  finding  among  his  papers  the  following  inter- 
pretation— 

Austri  Est    Imperare        Orbi         Universo. 

Austria    Is    To  govern  The  world   Universal. 

Maximilian,  in  the  prime  of  manhood,  energetic,  ambitious, 
and  invested  with  the  imperial  dignity,  now  assumed  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  Austrian  States.  The  prospect  of  greatness 
was  brilliant  before  Maximilian.  The  crowns  of  Bohemia 
and  Hungary  were  united  in  the  person  of  Ladislaus,  who 
was  without,  children.  As  Maximilian  already  enjoyed  the 
title  of  King  of  Hungary,  no  one  enjoyed  so  good  a  chance 
as  he  of  securing  both  of  those  crowns  so  soon  as  they  should 
&11  from  the  brow  of  Ladislaus. 

Europe  was  still  trembling  before  the  threatening  cimeter 
of  the  Turk.  Mahomet  II.,  having  annihilated  the  Greek  em- 
pire, faadi  consolidated  his  vast  power,  and  checked  in  his 
career  by  the  warlike  barons  of  Hungary,  now  cast  a  lustftil 
oyo  icross  the  Adriatio  to  the  shores  of  Italy.    He  crossed  the 


62  TBB     HOVSB     OP     iiUSTBIA. 

sea,  landed  a  powerful  army  and  established  twenty  thousand 
men,  strongly  garrisoned,  at  Otrauto,  and  supplied  with  pro. 
visions  for  a  year.  All  Italy  was  in  consternation,  for  a  pas 
sage  was  now  open  directly  from  Turkey  to  Naples  and 
Rome.  Mahomet  boasted  that  he  would  soon  feed  his  horse 
on  the  altar  of  St.  Peter's.  The  pope,  Sextns  IV.,  in  dismay, 
was  about  abandoning  Rome,  and  as  there  was  no  hope  of 
uniting  the  discordant  States  of  Italy  in  any  effectual  resist- 
ance, it  seemed  inevitable  that  Italy,  like  Greece,  would  soon 
become  a  Turkish  province.  And  where  then  could  it  be 
hoped  that  the  ravages  of  the  Turks  would  be  arrested  ? 

In  this  crisis,  so  alarming,  Providence  interposed,  and  the 
3udden  death  of  Mahomet,  in  the  vigor  of  his  pride  and  am- 
bition, averted  the  danger.  Bajazet  II.  succeeded  to  the 
Moslem  throne,  an  indolent  and  imbecile  sultan.  Insun'eo- 
tion  in  his  own  dominions  exhausted  all  his  feeble  energies. 
The  Neapolitans,  encouraged,  raised  an  army,  recovered 
Otranto,  and  drove  the  Turks  out  of  Italy.  Troubles  in  the 
Turkish  dominions  now  gave  Christendom  a  short  respite,  as 
all  the  strength  of  the  sultan  was  required  to  subjugate  insur- 
gent Circassia.and  Egypt. 

Though  the  Emperor  of  Germany  was  esteemed  the  first 
sovereign  in  Europe,  and,  on  state  occasions,  was  served  by 
kings  and  electors,  he  had  in  reality  but  little  power.  The 
kings  who  formed  his  retinue  on  occasions  of  ceremonid 
pomp,  were  often  vastly  his  superiors  in  wealth  and  powCT. 
Frequently  he  possessed  no  territory  of  his  own,  not  even  a 
castle,  but  depended  upon  the  uncertain  aids  reluctantly 
granted  by  the  diet. 

Gunpowder  was  now  coming  into  use  as  one  of  the  most 
efficient  engines  of  destruction,  and  was  working  great  changes 
in  the  science  of  war.  It  became  necessary  to  have  troo|}9 
drilled  to  the  use  of  cannon  and  muskets.  The  baron  could 
no  longer  summon  his  vassals,  at  the  moment,  to  abandon  the 
plow,  and  seize  pike  and  saber  for  battle,  where  the  strong 


PBEDBBIC    II.    AND    MAXIMILIAN    I.  A 

arm  only  was  needed.  Disciplined  troops  were  needed,  who 
could  sweep  the  field  with  well-aimed  ballets,  and  orumbla 
walls  with  shot  and  shells.  This  led  to  the  establishmeDt  oi 
standing  armies,  and  gave  the  great  powers  an  immense  ad- 
vantage over  their  weaker  neighbors.  The  invention  <rf 
printing,  also,  which  began  to  be  operative  about  the  middle 
of  the  fifteenth  century,  rapidly  changed,  by  the  diffusicn  oi 
intelligence,  the  state  of  society,  hitherto  so  barbarous.  The 
learned  men  of  Greece,  driven  from  their  country  by  the 
Turkish  invasion,  were  scattered  over  Europe,  and  oontrib* 
uted  not  a  Uttle  to  the  extension  of  the  love  of  letters.  The 
discovery  of  the  mariner's  compass  and  improvements  in 
nautical  astronomy,  also  opened  new  sources  of  knowledge 
and  of  wealth,  and  the  human  mind  all  over  Europe  com- 
menced a  new  start  in  the  career  of  civilization.  Men  <^  JeU 
ters  began  to  share  in  those  honoi-s  which  heretofore  had 
belonged  exclusively  to  men  of  war ;  and  the  arts  of  peace 
began  to  claim  considei-ation  with  those  who  had  been  accu9> 
tomed  to  respect  only  the  science  of  destruction. 

Maximilian  was  at  Innspruck  when  he  received  intelli* 
gence  of  the  death  of  his  father.  He  commenced  his  reign 
with  an  act  of  rigor  which  was  characteristic  of  his  whole 
career.  A  horde  of  Turks  had  penetrated  Styria  and  Car- 
niola,  laying  every  thing  waste  before  them  as  iar  as  Carniola. 
Maximilian,  sounding  the  alarm,  inspired  his  countrymen  with 
the  same  energy  which  animated  his  own  breast.  Fifteen 
thousand  men  rallied  at  the  blast  of  his  bugles.  Instead  of 
intrusting  the  command  of  them  to  his  generals,  he  placed 
himself  at  their  head,  and  made  so  fierce  an  onset  upon  the 
invaders,  that  they  precipitately  fled.  Maximilian  returned 
at  the  head  of  his  troops  triumphant  to  Vienna,  where  he  wjt 
received  with  acclamations  such  as  had  seldom  resounded  in 
the  metropolis.  He  was  hailed  as  the  deliverer  of  his  oouo* 
try,  and  at  once  rose  to  the  highest  position  in  the  esteem,  and 
affection  of  the  Austrians. 


M  THE     HOUSE     OF     AUSTRIA. 

Maximilian  had  encountered  innumerable  difficulties  ir 
Burgundy,  and  was  not  unwilling  to  escape  from  the  vexa* 
tions  and  cares  of  that  distant  dukedom,  by  surrendering  its 
government  to  his  son  Philij),  who  was  now  sixteen  years  of 
age,  and  whom  the  Burgundians  claimed  to  be  their  ruler  as 
the  heir  of  Mary.  The  Swiss  estates  were  also  sundered  from 
Austrian  dominion,  and,  uniting  with  the  Swiss  confederacy, 
were  no  longer  subject  to  the  house  of  Hapsburg.  Thus 
Maximilian  had  the  Austrian  estates  upon  the  Danube  only, 
as  the  nucleus  of  the  empire  he  was  ambitious  of  establish- 
ing. 

Conscious  of  his  power,  and  rejoicing  in  the  imperial  title, 
he  had  no  idea  of  playing  an  obscure  part  on  the  conspicuous 
stage  of  European  affairs.  With  an  eagle  eye  he  watched  the 
condition  of  the  empire,  and  no  less  eagerly  did  he  fix  his  eye 
upon  the  movements  of  those  great  southern  j^owers,  now  be- 
coming consolidated  into  kingdoms  and  empires,  and  mar- 
ehaling  armies  which  threatened  again  to  bring  all  Europe 
Under  a  dominion  as  wide  and  despotic  as  that  of  Rome. 

Charles  VIII.,  King  of  France,  crossed  the  Alps  with  an 
army  of  twenty-two  thousand  men,  in  the  highest  state  of  dis- 
cipline, and  armed  with  all  the  modern  enginery  of  war.  With 
ease  he  subjugated  Tuscany,  and  in  a  triumjAant  march 
through  Pisa  and  Siena,  entered  Rome  as  a  conqueror.  It 
was  the  31st  of  December,  1394,  when  Charles,  by  torchlight, 
at  the  head  of  his  exultant  troops,  entered  the  eternal  city. 
The  pope  threw  himself  into  the  castle  of  St.  Angelo,  but  was 
soon  compelled  to  capitulate  and  to  resign  all  his  fortresses  to 
the  conqueror.  Charles  then  continued  his  march  to  Naples, 
which  he  reached  on  the  22d  of  February.  He  overran  and 
subjugated  the  whole  kingdom,  and,  having  consolidated  hia 
conquest,  entered  Naples  on  a  white  steed,  beneath  imperial 
banners,  and  arrogantly  assumed  the  title  of  King  of  Naples, 
Sicily  and  Jerusalem  Alphonso,  King  of  Naples,  in  despair, 
abdicated  in  fevor  ^f  his  son,  Ferdinand;  and  Ferdinand, 


VBEOBBIO    II     AV1>    XAXIVIllA  B    I.  M 

ible  to  oppose  any  effectaal  resistance,  abandooed  hiA  kioQ^ 
dom  to  the  conqueror,  and  fled  to  the  island  of  {scfai& 

These  alarming  aggressions  on  the  part  of  France^  alreaSf 
▼ery  powerM,  excited  gener^  consternation  thronghont  B» 
fope.  Maximilian,  as  emperor,  was  h%fal7  incensed,  and  ronaei 
•11  his  energies  to  check  the  progress  of  so  dangerons  a  riva4 
The  Austrian  States  alone  could  by  no  means  oope  with  the 
kingdom  of  France.  Maximilian  sent  agents  to  the  pope,  to 
the  Dnkes  of  Milan  and  Florence,  and  to  the  Kmg  of  ArragoOi 
and  formed  a  secret  league  to  expel  the  French  ft-om  Italy, 
and  restore  Ferdinand  to  Naples.  It  was  understood  that  th« 
utrength  of  Prance  was  such,  that  this  enterprise  could  only 
be  achieved  through  a  long  war,  and  that  the  allies  must  con* 
tinue  united  to  prevent  France,  when  once  expelled  iVom  Italy, 
from  renewing  her  aggressions.  Tlie  league  was  to  ctmtintw 
twenty-two  years.  The  pope  was  to  inmish  six  thousand  men, 
and  the  other  Italian  States  twelve  thousand.  MaximiliaB 
promised  to  fiirnish  nine  thousand.  Venice  granted  the  troopf 
of  the  emperor  a  free  passage  through  her  dominions. 

These  important  first  steps  being  thus  taken  secretly  and 
securely,  the  emperor  summoned  a  diet  of  Germany  to  enliflt 
the  States  of  the  empire  in  the  enterprise.  This  was  the  moik 
difficult  task,  and  yet  nothing  could  be  accomplished  withoiA 
the  codperation  of  Germany.  But  the  Germanic  States,  loos^ 
held  together,  jealous  of  each  other,  each  grasping  solely  at  iftf 
own  aggrandizement,  reluctantly  delegating  any  power  to  the 
emperor,  were  slow  to  promise  cooperation  in  any  general  en- 
terprise, and  having  promised,  were  still  slower  to  perform. 
The  emperor  had  no  power  to  enforce  the  fulfillment  of  agree* 
ments,  and  could  only  supplicate.  During  the  long  reign  of 
Frederic  the  imperial  dignity  had  lapsed  more  and  more  into 
an  empty  title ;  and  Maximilian  had  an  arduous  task  hetbie 
him  in  securing  even  respectful  attention  to  his  demands.  He 
was  ftilly  aware  of  the  difficulties,  and  made  arrangements  ae* 
eordingly 


m  TOB    HOUSE    OF    AUSTBIA. 

The  memorable  diet  ^as  summoned  at  Worms,  on  the 
26th  of  May,  1496.  The  emperor  had  succeeded,  by  greal 
exertion,  in  assembling  a  more  numerous  concourse  of  the 
princes  and  nobles  of  the  empire  than  had  ever  met  on  a  sim« 
liar  occasion.  He  presided  in  person,  and  in  a  long  and  ear- 
uest  address  endeavored  to  rouse  the  empire  to  a  sense  of  its 
own  dignity  and  its  own  high  mission  as  the  regulator  of  the 
afi^irs  of  Earoj^e,  He  spoke  earnestly  of  their  duty  to  com* 
bine  and  chastise  the  insolence  of  the  Turks;  but  waiving 
that  for  the  present  moment,  he  unfolded  to  them  the  dangei 
to  which  Europe  was  immediately  and  imminently  exposed  by 
the  encroachments  of  France.  To  add  to  the  force  of  his 
words,  he  introduced  ambassadors  from  the  King  of  Naples, 
who  informed  the  assembly  of  the  conquests  of  the  French, 
of  their  haughty  bearing,  and  implored  the  aid  of  the  diet  to 
repel  the  invaders.  The  Duke  of  Milan  was  then  presented, 
and,  as  a  member  of  the  empire,  he  implored  as  a  fkvor  and 
claimed  as  a  right,  the  armies  of  the  empire  for  the  salvation 
of  his  duchy.  And  then  the  legate  of  the  pope,  in  the  robes 
of  the  Church,  and  speaking  in  the  name  of  the  Holy  Father 
to  his  children,  pathetically  described  the  indignities  to  which 
the  pope  had  been  exposed,  driven  from  his  palace,  bombarded 
in  the  fortress  to  which  he  had  retreated,  compelled  to  capitu- 
late and  leave  his  kingdom  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy ;  he 
expatiated  upon  the  impiety  of  the  French  troops,  the  sacri- 
legious horrors  of  which  they  had  been  guilty,  and  in  tones  of 
eloquence  hardly  surpassed  by  Peter  the  Hermit,  strove  to 
rouse  them  to  a  crusade  for  the  rescue  of  the  pope  and  his 
sacred  possessions. 

Maximilian  had  now  exhausted  all  his  powers  of  persua- 
gion.  He  had  done  apparently  enough  to  rouse  every  heart 
to  intensest  action.  But  the  diet  listened  coldly  to  all  these 
^peais,  and  then  in  substance  replied, 

**  We  admit  the  necessity  of  checking  the  incursions  of  the 
Sbrks ;  we  admit  that  it  is  important  to  check  the  progress  of 


yBBDBBIO    II      ABD    XAZIMIIIAB    I.  99 

tiie  French.  But  ooi  first  duty  is  to  secure  peace  in  6en> 
many.  The  States  of  the  empre  are  embroiled  in  inoessant 
wars  with  each  other.  All  attempts  to  prevent  these  private 
wars  between  the  States  of  the  empire  have  hitherto  felled. 
Before  we  ofm  vote  money  and  men  for  any  foreigri  enterprise 
wnatever,  we  mnst  secure  internal  tranquillity.  This  can  only 
be  done  by  establishing  a  supreme  tribunal,  supported  by  a 
power  which  can  enforce  its  decisions.** 

These  views  were  so  manifestly  judicious,  that  Manmiliaa 
assented  to  them,  and,  anxious  to  lose  no  time  in  raising  troope 
to  expel  the  French  from  Italy,  he  set  immediately  about  the 
organization  of  an  imperial  tribimal  to  regulate  the  internal 
aff^rs  of  the  empire.  A  court  was  created  called  the  Imperial 
Chamber.  It  was  composed  of  a  president  and  sixteen  JndgeSi 
half  of  whom  were  taken  from  the  army,  and  half  from  the 
dass  of  scholars.  To  secure  impartiality,  the  j  ndges  held  their 
office  for  life.  A  majority  of  suffi'ages  decided  a  qnesti(Hi, 
and  in  case  of  a  tie,  the  president  gave  a  casting  vote.  The 
emperor  reserved  the  right  of  deciding  certain  questions  him- 
self.  This  court  gradually  became  one  of  the  most  important 
and  salutary  institutions  of  the  German  empire. 

By  the  7th  of  August  these  important  measures  were  aiv 
ranged.  Maximilian  had  made  great  concessions  of  his  impe> 
rial  dignity  in  transferring  so  much  of  his  nominal  power  to 
the  Imperial  Chamber,  and  he  was  now  sanguine  that  the 
States  would  vote  him  the  supplies  which  were  needed  to  es> 
pel  the  French  from  Italy,  or,  in  more  honest  words,  to  win  foe 
the  empire  in  Italy  that  ascendency  which  France  had  at* 
lained.  But  bitter  indeed  was  his  disappointment.  After 
long  deliberation  and  vexatious  delays,  the  diet  voted  a  ridioa* 
ions  sum,  less  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars,  to 
raise  an  army  **  sufficient  to  check  the  progress  of  the  French.* 
One  third  of  this  sum  Maximilian  was  to  raise  from  hb  Aus* 
trian  Stat,es ;  the  remaining  two  thirds  he  was  permitted  to 
obtain  by  a  loan.     Four  years  were  to  be  allowed  for  raising 


88  THBHOITSBO*      AUSTRIA*. 

the  money,  and  the  emperor,  as  a  condition  for  the  receptloo 
of  even  this  miserable  boon,  was  required  to  pledge  his  word 
of  lienor  that  at  the  expiration  of  the  four  years  he  would 
raise  no  more.  And  even  these  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
dollars  were  to  be  intrusted  to  seven  treasurers,  to  be  admin* 
istered  according  to  their  discretion.  One  only  of  these  treas- 
nrers  was  to  be  chosen  by  the  emperor,  and  the  other  six  by 
the  diet. 

Deeply  chagrined  by  this  result,  Maximilian  was  able  to 
raise  only  three  thousand  men,  instead  of  the  nine  thousand 
which  he  had  promised  the  league.  Charles  VIII.,  informed 
of  the  formidable  coalition  combining  against  him,  and  not 
aware  of  the  feeble  resources  of  the  emperor,  apprehensive 
that  the  armies  of  Germany,  marching  down  and  uniting  with 
the  roused  States  of  Italy,  might  cut  off  his  retreat  and  over- 
whelm him,  decided  that  the  '*  better  part  of  courage  is  dvc 
crelion  ;"  and  he  accordingly  abandoned  his  conquests,  re- 
crossed  the  Apennines,  fought  his  backward  path  through 
Italy,  and  returned  to  France.  He,  however,  left  behind  him 
fiix  thousand  men  strongly  intrenched,  to  await  his  return 
with  a  new  and  more  powerful  armament. 

Maximilian  now  resolved  chivalrously  to  throw  himself  into 
Italy,  and  endeavor  to  rouse  the  Italians  themselves  to  resist 
the  threatened  invasion,  trusting  that  the  diet  of  Germany, 
when  they  should  see  him  struggling  against  the  hosts  of 
France,  would  send  ti'oops  to  his  aid.  With  five  hundred 
horse,  and  about  a  thousand  foot  soldiers,  he  crossed  the 
Alps.  Here  he  learned  that  for  some  unknown  reason  Charles 
had  postponed  his  expedition.  Recoiling  from  the  ridicule 
attending  a  quixotic  and  useless  adventure,  he  hunted  around 
for  some  time  to  find  some  heroic  achievement  which  would 
redeem  his  name  fi-ora  reproach,  when,  thwarted  in  every 
thing,  he  returned  to  Austria,  chagrined  and  humiliated. 

Thus  frustrated  in  all  his  attempts  to  gain  ascendency  in 
Italy,  Maximilian  turned  his  eyes  to  the  Swiss  estates  of  the 


FBBDERIC    II.     AND     MAXIMILIAN     i.  89 

house  of  Hapsburg,  now  sundered  from  the  Austrian  terri- 
tories. He  made  a  vigorous  effort,  first  by  diplomacy,  then 
by  force  of  arms,  to  regain  them.  Here  again  he  was  frus- 
trated, and  was  compelled  to  enter  into  a  capitulation  by 
which  he  acknowledged  the  independence  of  the  Helvetic 
States,  and  their  permanent  severance  from  Austrian  juris- 
diction. 

In  April,  1498,  Charles  VIH.  died,  and  Louis  XH.  suc- 
ceeded him  on  the  throne  of  France.  Louis  immediately 
made  preparations  for  a  new  invasion  of  Italy.  In  those 
miserable  days  of  violence  and  blood,  almost  any  prince  was 
ready  to  embark  in  war  under  anybody's  banner,  where  there 
was  the  least  prospect  of  personal  aggrandizement.  The 
question  of  right  or  wrong,  seemed  seldom  to  enter  any  one's 
mind.  Louis  fixed  his  eyes  upon  the  duchy  of  Milan  as  the 
richest  and  most  available  prize  within  his  grasp.  Conscious 
that  he  would  meet  with  much  opposition,  he  looked  around 
for  allies. 

"If  you  will  aid  me,"  he  said  to  Pope  Alexander  VI.,  "  1 
will  assist  you  in  your  war  against  the  Duke  of  Romagna.  I 
will  give  your  son,  Caesar  Borgia,*  a  pension  of  two  thousand 
dollars  a  year,  will  confer  upon  him  an  important  command 
in  my  army,  and  will  procure  for  him  a  marriage  with  a  prin- 
cess of  the  royal  house  of  Navarre." 

The  holy  father  could  not  resist  this  bribe,  and  eagerly 
joined  the  robber  king  in  his  foray.     To  Venice  Louis  said — 

"  If  you  will  unite  with  me,  I  will  assist  you  in  annexing 
to  your  oomains  the  city  of  Cremona,  and  the  Ghiaradadda." 
Lured  by  such  hopes  of  plunder,  Venice  was  as  eager  as  the 
pope  to  take  a  share  in  the  piratic  expedition.  Louis  then 
sent  to  the  court  of  Turin,  and  offered  them  large  sums  of 
money  and  increased  territory,  if  they  would  allow  him  a  free 

♦  CaBBar  Borgia,  who  has  filled  the  world  with  the  renown  of  bis  iniamy, 
Vas  the  illegitimate  aoo  of  Alexauder  VI.,  and  of  a  Roman  lady  named 


«*  THE     HOUSE    OP    AUSTRIA. 

passage  across  the  Alps.  Tnrin  bowed  obsequiously,  aoJ 
grasped  at  the  easy  bargain.  To  Florence  he  said,  "  If  yoia 
raise  a  hand  to  assist  the  Duke  of  Milan,  I  will  crush  you.  If 
you  remain  quiet,  I  will  leave  you  unharraed."  Florence; 
overawed,  remained  as  meek  as  a  lamb.  The  diplomacy  being 
thus  successfully  closed,  an  army  of  twenty-two  thousand  men 
was  put  in  vigorous  motion  in  July,  1499.  They  crossed  the 
Alps,  fought  a  few  battles,  in  which,  with  overpowering  num- 
bers, they  easily  conquered  their  opposers,  and  in  twenty  days 
were  in  possession  of  Milan.  The  Duke  Ludovico  with  diffi- 
culty  escaped.  With  a  few  followers  he  threaded  the  defiles 
of  the  Tyrolese  mountains,  and  hastened  to  Innspvuck,  the 
capital  of  Tyrol,  where  Maximilian  then  was,  to  whom  he  con- 
veyed the  first  tidings  of  his  disaster.  Louis  XTI.  followed 
after  his  triumphant  army,  and  on  the  6th  of  October  made  a 
triumphal  entry  into  the  captured  city,  and  was  inaugurated 
Duke  of  Milan. 

Maximilian  promised  assistance,  but  could  raise  neither 
money  nor  men.  Ludovico,  however,  succeeded  in  hiring  fi!& 
teen  hundred  Burgundian  horsemen,  and  eight  thousand  Swisa 
mercenaries — for  in  those  ages  of  ignorance  and  crime  all,  mea 
were  ready,  for  pay,  to  fight  in  any  cause — and  emerging 
from  the  mountains  upon  the  plains  of  Milan,  found  all  bis 
former  subjects  disgusted  with  the  French,  and  eager  to  rally 
under  his  banners.  His  army  increased  at  every  step.  He 
fell  fiercely  upon  the  invaders,  routed  them  everywhere,  drove 
them  from  the  duchy,  and  recovered  his  country  and  his 
capital  as  rapidly  as  he  had  lost  them.  One  fortress  only  the 
French  maintained.  The  intrepid  Chevalier  De  Bayard,  the 
knight  without  fear  and  without  reproach^  threw  himself  into 
the  citadel  of  Novarra,  and  held  out  against  all  the  efforts  of 
Ludovico,  awaiting  the  succor  which  he  was  sure  would  come 
from  bis  powerful  sovereign  the  King  of  France. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

MAXIMILIAN    I. 
From  1500  to  1519. 


TEEACnEUT  OF  TnB  SwiSS  SoI.DIBRS. — Perfidt  OS"  FEEDtKAjn;  cv  Abrasok.-o 
Appeals  by  Superstition. — Coalition  with  Spain.— The  Lkasub  of  Cambrat.«« 
Infamy  of  the  Pope. — The  King's  Apology. — Failttee  op  the  Plot. — Germans 
AROUSED. — Confidence  of  Maximilian. — Longings  fob  the  Pontifical  Chair- 
Maximilian  bribed. — Leo  X. — Dawning  Prosperity. — Matrimonial  Protects. — 

COMMKNCE.MENT    OF    THE   WaR    OF    REFORMATION. — SiCKNESS    OF    MAXIMILIAN. — Hn 

LAST  Directions. — His  Death.— The  Standard  by  which  nis  Charaotee  is  to 
BE  Judged. 

LOUTS  Xn.,  stung  by  the  disgrace  of  his  speedy  expulsion 
fi-om  Milan,  immediately  raised  another  army  of  five  thou- 
sand horse  and  fifteen  thousand  foot  to  recover  his  lost  plun- 
der. He  also  sent  to  Switzerland  to  hire  troops,  and  without 
difficulty  engaged  ten  thousand  men  to  meet,  on  the  plains  oi 
Milan,  the  six  thousand  of  their  brethren  whom  Ludovico  had 
hired,  to  hew  each  other  to  pieces  for  the  miserable  pittance 
of  a  few  pennies  a  day.  But  Louis  XII.  was  as  great  in  'diplo- 
macy as  in  war.  He  sent  secret  emissaries  to  the  Swiss  in  the 
oamp  of  Ludovico,  offering  them  larger  wages  if  they  would 
abandon  the  service  of  Ludovico  and  return  home.  They 
promptly  closed  the  bargain,  unfurled  the  banner  of  mutiny, 
and  informed  the  Duke  of  Milan  that  they  could  not,  in  con- 
ecaence,  fight  against  their  own  brethren.  The  duke  was  in 
despair.  He  plead  even  with  tears  that  they  would  not  aban- 
don him.  All  was  in  vain.  They  not  only  commenced  their 
march  home,  but  basely  betrayed  the  duke  to  the  French. 
He  was  taken  prisoner  by  Louis,  carried  to  France  and  for  five 
years  was  kept  in  rigorois  confinement  in  the  strong  fortresses 


^  TBB    HOUSE    OF    AUSTBIA. 

of  the  ^Dgdom.  Afterward,  throa|^  the  intercession  <^Maal> 
milian,  he  was  allowed  a  little  more  fteedooL  He  waa,  bow* 
ever,  kept  in  captiTity  until  he  died  in  the  year  1610.  Ludoi 
idco  merits  no  commiseration.  He  was  as  perfidious  and  OB 
principled  as  any  of  his  assailants  oonld  be. 

The  reconqnest  of  Milan  by  Loois,  and  the  oaptnre  of  L«> 
dovioo,  aiarmed  Maximilian  and  ronsed  him  to  new  efibrt& 
He  again  sammoned  the  States  of  the  emjNre  and  implored 
their  codperation  to  resist  the  agressions  of  France.  Btit 
he  was  as  unsuccessful  as  in  his  previous  endeavors.  Loidg 
watched  anxiously  the  movemmits  of  the  Glerman  diet,  asudi 
Snding  that  he  had  nothing  to  ^r  from  the  troops  of  the  em> 
pire,  having  secured  the  investiture  of  Milan,  prepared  for  tb« 
Invasion  of  Naples.  The  veosl  pope  was  easily  bought  over. 
Sven  Ferdinand,  the  Eingof  Arragon,  was  induced  to  loan  hki 
eonnivance  to  a  plan  for  robbing  a  near  relative  of  his  crown, 
by  the  promise  of  sharing  in  the  spoil.  A  treaty  of  partition 
was  entered  into  by  the  two  robber  kings,  by  which  Ferdinand 
of  Airagon  was  to  receive  Calabria  and  Apulia,  and  the  King 
of  France  the  remaining  Stat^  of  the  Neapolitan  kingdouL 
The  pope  was  confidentially  informed  of  this  secret  plot,  wbx(& 
was  arranged  at  Grenada,  and  promised  the  plunderers  his 
benediction,  in  consideration  of  the  abundant  reward  {M*omisei 
to  him. 

The  doom  of  tiie  Eii^  of  Ki^Ies  was  now  sealed.  AU  uat- 
eonscious  that  his  own  r^atlve,  Fwdinand  of  Arragon,  wm. 
oonspiring  against  him,  be  iqppealed  to  Ferdinand  tor  aid  agaii^ 
the  King  of  Fi-anoe.  The  porfidiow  king  considered  this  m 
qoite  a  providential  interposidoo  in  bis  &vor.  He  aflfeotoi 
great  zeal  for  the  King  of  Naples,  s^it  a  powertul  army  in^ 
bis  kiugdcHn,  and  statioi^  his  troops  in  the  important  for- 
tresses.  The  in&mons  fraud  was  now  acoompiisbed.  Frederia 
«if  Naples,  to  his  dismay,  found  that  he  had  been  placing  his 
empire  in  the  hands  <^  his  memiee  instead  of  friends ;  at  the 
same  time  tiie  troops  of  iioois  amved  at  Rome,  wttese  tber 


MAXIMILIAN     1.  98 

were  cordially  received  ;  and  the  pope  immediately,  on  the 
25th  of  June,  1601,  issued  a  bull  deposing  Frederic  from  his 
kingdom,  and,  by  virtue  of  that  spiritual  authority  which 
he  derived  from  the  Apostle  Peter,  invested  Louis  and  Fer- 
dinand with  the  dominions  of  Frederic.  Few  men  are  more 
to  be  commiserated  than  a  crownless  king.  Frederic,  in  hia 
despair,  threw  himself  upon  the  clemency  of  Louis.  He  was 
taken  to  France  and  was  there  fed  and  clothed  by  the  royal 
bounty. 

Maximilian  impatiently  watched  the  events  trom  his  home 
in  Austria,  and  burned  with  the  desire  to  take  a  more  active 
part  in  these  stirring  scenes.  Despairing,  however,  to  rouse 
the  German  States  to  any  effectual  intervention  in  the  affairs 
of  southern  Europe,  he  now  endeavored  to  rouse  the  en 
thusiasm  of  the  German  nobles  against  the  Turks.  In  this, 
by  appealing  to  superstition,  he  was  somewhat  successful 
He  addressed  the  following  circular  letter  to  the  German 
States : 

"  A  stone,  weighing  two  hundred  pounds,  recently  fell  fi-om 
heaven,  near  the  army  under  my  command  in  Upper  Alsace, 
and  I  caused  it,  as  a  fatal  warmng  from  God  to  men,  to  be 
hnng  up  in  the  neighboring  church  of  Encisheim.  In  vain  I 
myself  explained  to  all  Christian  kings  the  signification  of  this 
mysterious  stone.  The  Almighty  punished  the  neglect  of  this 
warning  with  a  dreadful  scourge,  from  which  thousands  have 
iuffered  death,  or  pains  worse  than  death.  But  since  this 
punishment  of  the  abominable  sins  of  men  has  produced  no 
effect,  God  has  imprinted  in  a  miraculous  manner  the  sign  of 
the  cross,  and  the  instruments  of  our  Lord's  passion  in  dark 
and  bloody  colors,  on  the  bodies  and  garments  of  thousands. 
The  appearance  of  these  signs  in  Germany,  in  particular,  does 
not  indeed  denote  that  the  Germans  have  been  peculiarly  dis- 
tinguished in  guilt,  but  rather  that  they  should  set  the  exam 
pie  to  the  rest  of  the  world,  by  being  the  first  to  ^mdertake  a 
crusade  against  the  infic^els.** 


94  THE     HOUSE     OF     AUSTRIA. 

For  a  time  Maximilian  seemed  quite  encouraged,  for  quit* 
a  wave  of  religious  enthusiasm  seemed  to  roil  over  Europe. 
All  the  energies  of  the  pope  were  apparently  enlisted,  and  he 
raised,  through  all  the  domains  of  the  Church,  large  sums  ot 
money  for  the  holy  enterprise  of  driving  the  invading  infidels 
out  of  Europe.  England  and  France  both  proffered  their  co- 
operation, and  England,  opening  her  inexhaustible  purse,  pre^ 
sented  a  subsidy  of  ten  thousand  pounds.  The  German  nobles 
rallied  in  large  numbers  nnder  the  banner  of  the  cross.  But 
disappointment  seemed  to  be  the  doom  of  the  emperor.  The 
King  of  France  sent  no  aid.  The  pope,  iniquitously  squan- 
dered all  the  money  he  had  raised  upon  his  infamous,  dissolute 
son,  CsBsar  Borgia.  And  the  emperor  himself  was  drawn  into 
a  war  with  Bavaria,  to  settle  the  right  of  succession  between 
two  rival  claimants.  The  settlement  of  the  question  devolved 
upon  Maximilian  as  emperor,  and  his  dignity  was  involved  in 
securing  respect  for  his  decision.  Tlius  the  whole  gorgeous 
plan  of  a  war  against  the  Turks,  such  as  Europe  had  never 
beheld,  vanished  into  thin  air,  and  Maximilian  was  found  at  the 
head  of  fourteen  thousand  infantry,  and  twelve  thousand  horse, 
engaged  in  a  quarrel  in  the  heart  of  Germany.  In  this  war 
Maximilian  was  successful,  and  he  rewarded  himself  by  annex- 
ing to  Austria  several  small  provinces,  the  sum  total  of  whidl 
quite  enlarged  his  small  domains. 

By  this  time  the  kings  of  France  and  Spain  were  fiercely 
fighting  over  their  conquest  of  Naples  and  Sicily,  each  striv- 
ing to  grasp  the  lion's  share.  Maximilian  thonght  his  interests 
would  be  promoted  by  aiding  the  Spaniards,  and  he  accord- 
ingly sent  three  thousand  men  to  Trieste,  where  they  em- 
barked, and  sailing  down  the  Adriatic,  united  with  the  Span 
bh  ttroops.  The  French  were  driven  out  of  Italy.  There  then 
ensued,  for  several  years,  wars  and  intrigues  in  which  France^ 
Sp£dn,  Italy  and  Austria  were  involved ;  all  alike  selfish  and 
grasping.  Armies  were  ever  moving  to  and  fro,  and  the 
people  of  Europe,  by  the  victories  oi  kings  and  uoUei^ 


M  A  XI  MILI  AN    I.  W 

kept  in  a  condition  of  misery.    No  one  seemed  ever  to  tbink 
of  their  rights  or  their  happiness. 

Varions  circumstances  bad  exasperated  Maximilian  very 
much  against  the  Venetians.  All  the  powers  of  Europe  were 
then  ready  to  combine  against  any  other  power  whatever,  if 
there  was  a  chance  of  obtaining  any  share  in  the  division  ci 
the  plunder.  Maximilian  fonnd  no  diffioalty  in  secretly  form 
ing  one  of  the  most  formidable  leagues  history  had  then  re- 
corded, the  celebrated  leagne  of  Cambray.  No  sympathy  need 
Se  wasted  npon  the  Venetians,  the  victims  of  this  coalition,  for 
they  had  rendered  themselves  universally  detestable  by  their 
arrogance,  rapacity,  perfidy  and  pride.  Prance  joined  the 
ctoalition,  and,  in  view  of  her  power,  was  to  receive  a  lionHl 
share  of  the  prey — the  proAdnces  of  Brescia,  Bergamo,  Cr^ 
mona,  and  the  Ghiradadda.  The  King  of  Arragon  was  to 
send  shipB  and  troops,  and  receive  his  pay  in  the  maritime 
towns  on  the  shores  of  the  Adriatic.  The  pope,  Julias  IL,  the 
most  grasping,  pei-fidions  and  selfish  of  them  all,  demanded 
Bavenna,  Cervia,  Faenza,  Rimini,  Immola  and  Cesena.  His 
exorbitant  claims  were  assented  to,  as  it  was  infinitely  impoiw 
tant  that  the  piratic  expedition  shonld  be  sanctioned  by  the 
olessing  of  the  Church.  Maximilian  was  to  receive,  in  addition 
to  some  territories  which  Venice  had  wrested  from  him,  Ro- 
veredo,  Verona,  Padua,  Vicenza,  Trevigi,  and  the  Friuli.  As 
Maximilian  was  bound  by  a  truce  with  Venice,  and  as  in  those 
days  of  chivalry  some  little  regard  was  to  be  paid  to  one's 
word  of  honor,  Maximilian  was  only  to  march  at  the  summons 
of  the  pope,  which  no  true  son  of  the  Church,  raider  any  car 
Gumstances,  was  at  liberty  to  disobey.  Sundry  other  minor 
dukes  and  princes  were  engaged  in  the  plot,  who  were  also  to 
seo^ve  a  proportionate  share  of  the  spoil. 

After  these  arrangements  were  all  completed,  the  holy 
btber,  with  characteristic  infamy,  made  private  overtures  to 
the  Venetians,  revealing  to  them  the  whole  plot,  and  offering 
to  withdraw  from  the  confederacy  and  thwart  all  its  plana,  if 


00  THE    HOUSE     OF     AUSTRIA. 

Venice  would  pay  more  as  the  reward  of  perfidy  than  Rome 
could  hope  to  acquire  by  force  of  arms.  The  haughty  republic 
rejected  the  infamous  proposal,  and  prepared  for  a  desperate 
defense. 

All  the  powers  of  the  confederacy  were  now  collecting 
their  troops.  But  Maximilian  was  dependent  upon  the  Ger- 
man diet  for  his  ability  to  fulfill  his  part  of  the  contract.  He 
assembled  the  diet  at  Worms  on  the  21st  of  April,  1509,  pre- 
sented to  them  the  plan  of  the  league,  and  solicited  their  sup 
X>rt.  The  diet  refused  to  cooperate,  and  hardly  afiecting  even 
the  forms  of  respect,  couched  its  refusal  in  terras  of  stinging 
rebuke. 

"  We  are  tired,"  they  said,  "  of  these  innumerable  calls 
for  troops  and  money.  We  can  not  support  the  burden  of 
these  fi*equent  diets,  involving  the  expense  of  long  journeys, 
and  we  are  weary  of  expeditions  and  wars.  If  the  emperor 
enters  into  treaties  with  France  and  the  pope  without  consult- 
ing us,  it  is  his  concern  and  not  ours,  and  we  are  not  bound 
to  aid  him  to  fulfill  his  agreement.  And  even  if  we  were  to 
vote  the  succors  which  are  now  asked  of  us,  we  should  only 
be  involved  in  embarrassment  and  disgrace,  as  we  have  been 
by  the  previous  enterprises  of  the  emperor." 

Such,  in  brief,  was  the  response  of  the  diet.  It  drew  from 
the  emperor  a  long  defense  of  his  conduct,  which  he  called  an 
**  Apology,"  and  which  is  considered  one  of  the  most  curious 
and  characteristic  documents  of  those  days.  He  made  no  at- 
tempt to  conceal  his  vexation,  but  assailed  them  in  strong  lan- 
guage of  reproach. 

"I  have  concluded  a  treaty  with  my  allies,"  he  wrote, 
*  m  conformity  to  the  dictates  of  conscience  and  duty,  and 
for  the  honor,  glory  and  happiness  of  the  empire  and  of  Chris- 
tendom. The  negotiation  could  not  be  postponed,  and  if  I 
had  convoked  a  diet  to  demand  the  advice  of  the  States,  the 
treaty  would  never  have  been  concluded.  I  was  under  the  ne- 
oessity  of  cono^jaling  the  project  of  the  combined  powers,  that 


MAXTMILIAWI.  99 

we  might  fall  on  the  Venetians  at  once  and  unexpectedly, 
which  could  not  have  been  eflfected  in  the  midst  of  public  de- 
liberations  and  endless  discussions ;  and  I  have,  I  trust,  clearly 
proved,  both  in  my  public  and  my  private  communications,  the 
advantage  which  is  likely  to  result  from  this  union.  If  the 
aids  hitherto  granted  by  diets  have  produced  nothing  but  dis. 
grace  and  dishonor,  I  am  not  to  blame,  but  the  States  who 
acted  so  scandalously  ui  granting  their  succors  with  so  much 
reluctance  and  delay.  As  for  myself,  I  have,  on  the  contrary, 
exposed  my  treasure,  my  countries,  my  subjects  and  my  life, 
while  the  generality  of  the  German  States  have  remained  in 
dishonorable  tranquillity  at  home.  I  have  more  reason  tc 
complain  of  you  than  you  of  me ;  for  you  have  constantly  re 
fused  me  your  approbation  and  assistance  ;  and  even  when  yoo 
have  granted  succors,  you  have  rendered  them  fruitless  by  the 
scantiness  and  tardiness  of  your  supplies,  and  compelled  me  to 
dissipate  my  own  revenues,  and  injure  my  own  subjects." 

Of  course  these  bitter  recriminations  accomplished  nothing 
in  changing  the  action  of  the  diet,  and  Maximilian  was  thrown 
upon  the  Austrian  States  alone  for  supplies.  Louis  of  France, 
at  the  head  of  seventeen  thousand  troops,  crossed  the  Alps, 
The  pope  fulminated  a  bull  of  excommunication  against  the 
Venetians,  and  sent  an  army  often  thousand  men.  T^e  Duk« 
of  Ferrara  and  the  Marquis  of  Mantua  sent  their  contingents. 
Maximilian,  by  great  exertions,  sent  a  few  battalions  through 
the  mountains  of  the  Tyrol,  and  was  preparing  to  follow  with 
stronger  forces.  Province  after  province  fell  before  the  resist- 
less invaders,  and  Venice  would  have  fellen  irretrievably  had 
not  the  conquerors  began  to  quarrel  among  themselves.  The 
pope,  in  secret  treaty,  was  endeavoring  to  secure  his  private 
interests,  regardless  of  the  interests  of  the  allies.  Louis,  from 
iome  pique,  withdrew  his  forces,  and  abandoned  Maximilian  in 
the  hour  of  peril,  and  the  emperor,  shackled  by  want  of  money, 
and  having  but  a  feeble  force,  was  quite  unable  to  make  pro^ 
jesr  nlone  against  the  Venetian  troops. 


98  THB     HOirSE     OF     AUSTRIA. 

It  does  not  seem  to  be  the  will  of  Providence  that  the  plote 
of  unprincipled  men,  even  against  men  as  bad  as  themselves, 
should  be  more  than  transiently  prosperous.  Maximilian,  thus 
again  utterly  thwarted  in  one  of  his  most  magnificent  plans, 
covered  with  disgrace,  and  irritated  almost  beyond  endurance, 
after  attempting  in  vain  to  negotiate  a  truce  witn  the  Vene- 
tians, was  compelled  to  retreat  across  the  Alps,  inveighing 
bitterly  against  the  perfidious  refusal  to  ftilfiU  a  perfidious 
agreement. 

The  holy  father,  Julius  II.,  outwitted  all  his  accomplices. 
He  secured  from  Venice  very  valuable  accessions  of  territory, 
and  then,  recalling  his  ecclesiastical  denunciations,  united  with 
Venice  to  drive  the  barbarians^  as  he  afiectionately  called  his 
French  and  German  allies,  out  of  Italy.  Maximilian  returned 
t;o  Austria  as  in  a  funeral  march,  ventured  to  summon  another 
diet,  told  them  how  shamefully  he  had  been  treated  by  France, 
Venice  and  the  pope,  and  again  implored  them  to  do  some- 
thing to  help  him.  Perseverance  is  surely  the  most  efficient 
of  virtues.  Incredible  as  it  may  seem,  the  emperor  now  ob- 
tained some  little  success.  The  diet,  indignant  at  the  conduct 
of  the  pope,  and  alarmed  at  so  formidable  a  union  as  that  be- 
tween the  papal  States  and  Venice,  voted  a  succor  of  six  thou- 
sand infantry  and  eighteen  hundred  horse.  This  encouraged 
the  emperor,  and  forgetting  his  quarrel  with  Louis  XII.  of 
France,  in  the  stronger  passion  of  personal  aggrandizement 
which  influenced  him,  he  entered  into  another  alliance  with 
Louis  against  the  pope  and  Venice,  and  then  made  a  still 
stronger  and  a  religious  appeal  to  Germany  for  aid.  A  certain 
©lass  of  politicians  in  all  countries  and  in  all  ages,  have  occa- 
•ionally  expi-essed  great  solicitude  for  the  reputation  of  religion. 

"  The  power  and  goverament  of  the  pope,"  the  emperor 
proclaimed,  "  which  ought  to  be  an  example  to  the  faithful, 
present,  on  the  contrary,  nothing  but  trouble  and  disorder. 
The  enormous  sums  daily  extorted  from  Germany,  are  per* 
Terted  to  the  purposes  of  luxury  or  worldly  views,  instead  of 


VAZIMILIAV    I  Ot 

being  employed  for  the  service  of  GU>d,  or  against  the  infidels. 
As  Emperor  of  Germany,  as  advocate  and  protector  of  the 
Christian  Church,  it  is  my  duty  to  examine  into  such  irregu- 
larities, and  exert  all  my  efforts  for  the  glory  of  God  and  th« 
advantage  of  the  empire  ;  and  as  there  is  an  evident  necessity 
to  reestablish  due  order  and  decency,  both  in  the  ecclesiastic 
cal  and  temporal  state,  I  have  resolved  to  call  a  general  cotnh 
cil,  without  which  nothing  permanent  cao  be  effected.** 

It  is  said  that  Maximilian  was  now  so  confident  of  soocess, 
diat  he  had  decided  to  divide  Italy  between  himself  and 
France.  He  was  to  take  Venice  and  the  States  of  the  Church, 
and  France  was  to  have  the  rest.  Pope  Julius  was  to  be  de- 
posed, and  to  be  succeeded  by  Pope  Maximilian.  Tlie  fol- 
lowing letter  from  Maximilian  to  his  daughter,  reveals  his 
ambitious  views  at  the  time.  It  is  dated  the  18th  of  Sep- 
tember, 1611. 

"  To-morrow  I  shall  send  the  Bishop  of  Guzk  to  the  pope  at 
Rome,  to  conclude  an  agreement  with  him  that  I  may  be  ap- 
pointed his  coadjutor,  and  on  his  death  succeed  to  the  papacy, 
and  become  a  priest,  and  afterwards  a  saint,  that  you  may  be 
bound  to  worship  me,  of  which  I  shall  be  very  proud.  I  have 
written  on  this  subject  to  the  King  of  Arragon,  intreating 
him  to  &vor  my  undertaking,  and  he  has  promised  me  his 
assistance,  provided  I  resign  my  imperial  crown  to  my  grand- 
son Charles,  which  I  am  very  ready  to  do.  The  people  and 
nobles  of  Rome  have  offered  to  support  me  against  the 
French  and  Spanish  party.  They  can  muster  twenty  thou* 
sand  combatants,  and  have  sent  me  word  that  they  are  in- 
clined  to  favor  my  scheme  of  being  pope,  and  will  not  consent 
to  have  either  a  Frenchman,  a  Spaniard  or  a  Venetian. 

**  I  have  already  began  to  sound  the  cardinals,  and,  for 
that  purpose,  two  or  three  hundred  thousand  ducats  would  be 
of  great  service  to  me,  as  their  partiality  to  me  is  very  great. 
The  King  of  An-agon  has  ordered  his  ambassadors  to  assure 
me  that  he  will  command  the  Spanish  cardinals  to  favor  my 


100  THB     HOIT82    OF     AUSTRIA. 

pretensions  to  the  papacy.  I  intreat  you  to  keep  this  mattet 
secret  for  the  present,  though  I  am  afraid  it  will  soon  be 
known,  for  it  is  impossible  to  carry  on  a  business  secretly  for 
which  it  is  necessary  to  gain  over  so  many  persons,  and  to 
have  so  much  money.  Adieu.  Written  with  the  hand  of 
your  dear  father  Maximilian,  future  pope.  The  pope's  fever 
has  increased,  and  he  can  not  live  long." 

It  is  painful  to  follow  out  the  windings  of  intrigue  and  the 
labyrinths  of  guile,  where  selfishness  seemed  to  actuate  every 
heart,  and  where  all  alike  seem  destitute  of  any  principle  of 
Christian  integrity.  Bad  as  the  world  is  now,  and  selfish  as 
political  aspirants  are  now,  humanity  has  made  immense  prog- 
ress since  that  dark  age  of  superstition,  fraud  and  violence. 
After  many  victories  and  many  defeats,  after  innumerable 
fluctuations  of  guile,  Maximilian  accepted  a  bnbe,  and  with- 
drew his  forces,  and  the  King  of  France  was  summoned  home 
by  the  invasion  of  his  own  territories  by  the  King  of  Arragon 
and  Henry  VIII.  of  England,  who,  for  a  suitable  considera- 
tion, had  been  induced  to  join  Venice  and  the  pope.  At  the 
end  of  this  long  campaign  of  diplomacy,  perfidy  and  blood, 
in  which  misery  had  rioted  through  ten  thousand  cottages, 
whose  inhabitants  the  warriors  regarded  no  more  than  the 
occupants  of  the  ant-hills  they  trampled  beneath  their  feet, 
it  was  found  that  no  one  had  gained  any  thing  but  toil  and 
disappointment. 

On  the  21st  of  February,  1513,  Pope  Julius  II.  died,  and 
the  cardinals,  rejecting  all  the  overtures  of  the  emperor, 
elected  John  of  Medici  pope,  who  assumed  the  name  of  Leo 
X.  The  new  pontiff  was  but  thirty-six  years  of  age,  a  man 
of  brilliant  talents,  and  devoted  to  the  pursuit  of  letters.  In- 
spired by  boundless  ambition,  he  wished  to  signalize  his  reign 
by  the  magnificence  of  his  court  and  the  grandeur  of  his 
achievements. 

Thus  far  nothing  but  disaster  seemed  to  attend  the  enter- 
prises of  Maximilian ;  but  now  the  tide  suddenly  turned  and 


MAXIMILIAN   I.  101 

rolled  in  upon  him  billows  of  prosperity.  It  will  be  remem- 
bered that  Maximilian  married,  for  his  first  wife,  Mary,  the 
daughter  of  the  Duke  of  Burgundy.  Their  son  Philip  mar- 
ried Joanna,  daughter  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  whose  mar- 
riage, uniting  the  kingdoms  of  Castile  and  Arragon,  created 
the  splendid  kingdom  of  Spain.  Philip  died  young,  leaving  a 
son,  Charles,  and  Joanna,  an  insane  wife,  to  watch  his  grave 
through  weary  years  of  woe.  Upon  the  death  of  Ferdinand, 
in  January,  1516,  Charles,  the  grandson  of  Maximilian,  became 
undisputed  heir  to  the  whole  monarchy  of  Spain  ;  then,  per- 
haps, the  grandest  power  in  Europe,  including  Naples,  Sicily 
and  Navarre.  This  magnificent  inheritance,  coming  so  di- 
rectly into  the  family,  and  into  the  line  of  succession,  invested 
Maximilian  and  the  house  of  Austria  with  new  dignity. 

It  was  now  an  object  of  intense  solicitude  with  Maximilian, 
to  secure  the  reversion  of  the  crowns  of  Hungary  and  Bo- 
hemia, which  were  both  upon  the  brow  of  Ladislaus,  to  his 
own  family.  With  this  object  in  view,  and  to  render  assur- 
ance doubly  sure,  he  succeeded  in  negotiating  a  marriage 
between  two  children  of  Ladislaus,  a  son  and  a  daughter,  and 
two  of  his  own  grand-children.  This  was  a  far  pleasanter 
mode  of  acquiring  territory  and  family  aggrandizement  than 
by  the  sword.  In  celebration  of  the  betrothals,  Ladislaus  and 
his  brother  Sigismond,  King  of  Poland,  visited  Vienna,  where 
Ladislaus  was  so  delighted  with  the  magnificent  hospitality 
of  his  reception,  that  he  even  urged  upon  the  emperor,  who 
was  then  a  widower,  fifty-eight  years  of  age,  that  he  should 
marry  another  of  his  daughters,  though  she  had  but  attained 
her  thirteenth  year.  The  emperor  declined  the  honor,  jooa 
larly  remarking — 

'*  There  is  no  method  more  pleasant  to  kill  an  old  man, 
than  to  marry  him  to  a  young  bride." 

The  German  empire  wm  then  divided  into  ten  districts,  oi 
circles,  as  they  were  then  called,  each  of  which  was  responai- 
ble  for  the  maintenance  of  peace  among  its  own  members 


102  THB     HOUSE     OP     ATJ8TEIA. 

These  districts  were,  Austria,  Burgundy,  the  Upper  Rhme^ 
the  Lower  Rhine,  Franconia,  Bavaria,  Suabia,  Westphalia, 
Upper  Saxony  and  Lower  Saxony.  The  affairs  of  each  di* 
trict  were  to  be  regulated  by  a  court  of  a  few  nobles,  called  a 
diet.  The  emperor  devoted  especial  attention  to  the  im- 
provement  of  his  own  estate  of  Austria,  which  he  subdivided 
mto  two  districts,  and  these  into  still  smaller  districts.  Over 
all,  for  the  settlement  of  all  important  points  of  dispute,  he  es- 
tablished a  tribunal  called  the  Aulic  Council,  which  subseqnenO 
ly  exerted  a  powerful  influence  over  the  affairs  of  Austria. 

One  more  final  effort  Maximilian  made  to  rouse  Germany 
to  combine  to  drive  the  Turks  out  of  Europe.  Though  the 
benighted  masses  looked  up  with  much  reverence  to  the  pon- 
tiff, the  princes  and  the  nobles  regarded  him  only  as  2t,  power, 
wielding,  in  addition  to  the  military  arm,  the  potent  energies 
of  superstition.  A  diet  was  convened.  The  pope's  legate 
appeared,  and  sustained  the  eloquent  appeal  of  the  emperw 
with  the  paternal  commands  of  the  holy  father.  But  the  press 
was  now  becoming  a  power  in  Europe,  diffusing  intelligence 
and  giving  freedom  to  thought  and  expression.  The  diet, 
after  listening  patiently  to  the  arguments  of  the  emperor  and 
the  requests  of  the  pontiff,  dryly  replied — 

"We  think  that  Christianity  has  more  to  fear  fi*om  the 
pope  than  from  the  Turks.  Much  as  we  may  dread  the  rav- 
ages of  the  infidel,  they  can  hardly  drain  Chiistendom  more 
effectually  than  it  is  now  drained  by  the  exactions  of  the 
Church." 

It  was  at  Augsburg  in  July,  1518,  that  the  diet  ventured 
thus  boldly  to  speak.  This  was  one  year  after  Luther  had 
nailed  upon  the  church  door  in  Wittemberg,  his  ninety-five 
propositions,  which  had  roused  all  Germany  to  scrutinize  the 
abominable  corruptions  of  the  papal  church.  This  bold  Ian* 
guage  of  the  diet,  influenced  by  the  still  bolder  language  ot 
the  intrepid  monk,  alarmed  Leo  X.,  and  on  the  7th  of  Augosl 
be  issued  his  summons  commanding  Luther  to  repair  to  Rome 


MAXIMILIAN     I.  103 

to  answer  tor  heresy.  Maximilian,  who  had  been  foiled  in  his 
own  attempt  to  attain  the  chair  of  St.  Peter,  who  had  seen  so 
much  of  the  infamous  career  of  Julius  and  Alexander,  as  to 
lose  all  his  reverence  for  the  sacred  character  of  the  popes,  and 
who  regarded  Leo  X.  merely  as  a  successful  rival  who  had 
thwarted  his  own  plans,  espoused,  with  cautious  development, 
but  with  true  interest,  the  cause  of  the  reformer.  And  now 
came  the  great  war  of  the  Reformation,  agitating  Germany  in 
every  quarter,  and  rousing  the  lethargic  intellect  of  the  na- 
tions as  nothing  else  could  rouse  it.  Maximilian,  with  charac- 
teristic fickleness,  or  rather,  with  characteristic  pliancy  before 
every  breeze  of  self  interest,  was  now  on  the  one  side,  now  on 
the  other,  and  now,  nobody  knew  where,  until  his  career  was 
terminated  by  sudden  and  fatal  sickness. 

The  emperor  was  at  Innspruck,  all  overwhelmed  with  his 
cares  and  his  plans  of  ambition,  when  he  was  seized  with  a 
slight  fever.  Hoping  to  be  benefited  by  a  change  of  air,  he 
set  out  to  travel  by  slow  stages  to  one  of  his  castles  among  the 
mountains  of  Upper  Austria.  The  disease,  however,  rapidly 
increased,  and  it  was  soon  evident  that  death  was  approach- 
ing. The  peculiarities  of  his  character  were  never  more  strik- 
ingly developed  than  in  these  last  solemn  hours.  Being  told 
by  his  physicians  that  he  had  not  long  to  live  and  that  he  must 
now  prepare  for  the  final  judgment,  he  calmly  replied,  "  I  have 
long  ago  made  that  preparation.  Had  I  not  done  so,  it  would 
be  too  late  now." 

Foi  four  years  he  had  been  conscious  of  declining  health, 
and  had  always  carried  with  him,  wherever  he  traveled,  an 
oaken  coflSn,  with  his  shroud  and  other  requisites  for  his  tii- 
neral.  With  very  minute  directions  he  settled  all  his  world- 
ly affairs,  and  gave  the  most  particular  instructions  respecting 
his  funeral.  Changing  his  linen,  he  strictly  enjoined  that  his 
shu't  should  not  be  removed  after  his  death,  for  his  fastidious 
modesty  was  shocked  by  the  idea  of  the  exposure  of  his  body, 
even  aft^  the  soul  had  taken  its  flight. 


104  THE     HOU8B     OF     AUSTRIA. 

He  ordered  his  hair,  after  his  death,  to  be  cut  oflf,  all  hit 
teeth  to  be  extracted,  pounded  to  powder  and  publicly  barned 
in  the  chapel  of  his  palace.  For  one  day  his  remains  were  to 
be  exposed  to  the  public,  as  a  lesson  of  mortality.  They  were 
then  to  be  placed  in  a  sack  filled  with  quicklime.  The  sack 
was  to  be  enveloped  in  folds  of  silk  and  satin,  and  then  placed 
in  the  oaken  coffin  which  had  been  so  long  awaiting  his  re- 
mains. The  coffin  was  then  to  be  deposited  under  the  altar  of 
the  chapel  of  his  palace  at  Neustadt,  in  such  a  position  that 
the  officiating  priest  should  ever  trample  over  his  head  and 
heart.  The  king  expressed  the  hope  that  this  humiliation  of 
his  body  would,  in  some  degree,  be  accepted  by  the  Deity  in 
atonement  for  the  sins  of  his  soul.  How  universal  the  instinct 
that  sin  needs  an  atonement ! 

Having  finished  these  directions  the  emperor  observed  that 
some  of  his  attendants  were  in  tears.  "Do. you  weep,"  said 
he,  "  because  you  see  a  mortal  die  ?  Such  tears  become  women 
rather  than  men,"  The  emperor  was  now  dying.  As  the 
ecclesiastics  repeated  the  prayers  of  the  Church,  the  emperor 
gave  the  responses  until  his  voice  failed,  and  then  continued  to 
give  tokens  of  recognition  and  of  faith,  by  making  the  sign  of 
the  cross.  At  three  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  the  11th  of  Jan- 
uary, 1619,  the  Emperor  Maximilian  breathed  his  last.  He 
was  then  in  the  sixtieth  year  of  his  age. 

Maximilian  is  justly  considered  one  of  the  most  renowned 
of  the  descendants  of  Rhodolph  of  Hapsburg.  It  is  saying 
but  httle  for  his  moral  integrity,  to  affirm  that  he  was  one  of 
the  best  of  the  rulers  of  his  age.  According  to  his  ideas  of 
religion,  he  was  a  religious  man.  According  to  his  ideas  of 
honesty  and  of  honor,  he  was  both  an  honest  and  an  honora- 
ble man.  According  to  his  idea  of  what  is  called  morcU  con- 
dniet^  he  was  irreproachable,  being  addicted  to  no  ungenteel 
vices,  or  any  sins  which  would  be  condemned  by  his  associates. 
His  ambition  was  not  to  secure  for  himself  ease  or  luxury,  but 
to  extend  his  imperial  power,  and  to  aggrandize  his  family. 


MAXIMILIAN     1.  105 

For  these  objects  he  passed  his  life,  ever  tossed  upon  the  bil- 
lows of  toil  and  trouble.  In  industry  and  perseverance,  he 
has  rarely  been  surpassed. 

Notwithstanding  the  innumerable  interruptions  and  cares 
attendant  upon  his  station,  he  still  found  time,  one  can  hardly 
imagine  when,  to  become  a  proficient  in  all  the  learning  of  the 
day.  He  wrote  and  spoke  four  languages  readily,  Latin, 
French,  German  and  Italian.  Few  men  have  possessed  more 
persuasive  powers  of  eloquence.  All  the  arts  and  sciences  he 
warmly  patronized,  and  men  of  letters  of  every  class  found 
in  him  a  protector.  But  history  must  truthfully  declare  that 
there  was  no  perfidy  of  which  he  would  not  be  guilty,  and  no 
meanness  to  which  he  would  not  stoop,  if  he  could  only  extend 
his  hereditary  domains  and  add  to  his  family  renown. 


CHAPTER    VII. 

CHARLES    V.     AND     THE    REFORMATION. 
From  1519  to  1531. 

ObABLES  v.  OF  Spain. — Hra  Election  as  Emperor  of  Germany. — His  Coronation.-* 
The  first  Constitution. — Progress  of  thk  Reformation.— The  Pope's  Binj 

AGAINST    LlTTHER. — HiS     CONTEMPT    FOR     HIS    HOLINESS. — ThE    DiET    AT    VTORMS.-* 

Frederic's  Objection  to  the  Condemnation  op  Luther  bt  the  Diet.— Hb  oa> 

TAINS  FOR    LuTHEE    TUB   RlOUT  OF  DEFENSE. — LuTHEr'S  TRIUMPHAL   MaROH  TO   TH> 

Tribunal. — Charles  urged  to  violate  his  Safe  Conduct. — Luther's  Patmos.— 
Marriage  of  Sister  Catharine  Bora  to  Luther.— Terrible  Insurbeotion. — Thi 
Holy  League. — The  Protest  of  Spires. — Confession  of  Augsburg. — The  two 
Confessions.— Compulsory  Measures. 

CHARLES  V.  of  Spain,  as  the  nearest  male  heir,  inherited 
from  Maximilian  the  Austrian  States.  He  was  the  grand- 
son of  the  late  emperor,  son  of  Philip  and  of  Joanna,  daughter 
of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  and  was  born  on  the  24th  of  Feb* 
ruary,  1600.  He  had  been  carefully  educated  in  the  learning 
and  accomplishments  of  the  age,  and  particularly  in  the  arts 
of  war.  At  the  death  of  his  grandfather,  Ferdinand,  Charles, 
though  but  sixteen  years  of  age,  assumed  the  title  of  King  of 
Spain,  and  though  strongly  opposed  for  a  time,  he  grasped 
firmly  and  held  securely  the  reins  of  government. 

Joanna,  his  mother,  was  legally  the  sovereign,  both  by  the 
laws  of  united  Castile  and  Arragon,  and  by  the  testaments  of 
Isabella  and  Ferdinand.  But  she  was  insane,  and  was  sunk  in 
such  depths  of  melancholy  as  to  be  almost  unconscious  of  the 
scenes  which  were  transpiring  around  her.  Two  years  had 
elapsed  between  the  accession  of  Charles  V.  to  the  throne  of 
Spain  and  the  death  of  his  grandfather,  Maximilian.  The 
young  king,  with  wonderful  energy  of  character,  had,  daring 


CHARLES  V.  AND  THE  REFORMATION.   1(W 

that  time,  established  himself  very  firmly  on  the  throne.  Upon 
the  death  of  Maximilian  many  claimants  rose  for  the  imperial 
throne.  Henry  VlJi.  of  England  and  Francis  of  France,  were 
prominent  among  the  competitors.  For  six  months  all  the 
arts  of  diplomacy  were  exhausted  by  the  various  candidates, 
and  Charles  of  Spain  won  the  prize.  On  the  28th  of  June, 
1519,  he  was  unanimously  elected  Emperor  of  Germany.  The 
youthful  sovereign,  who  was  but  nineteen  years  of  age,  was 
at  Barcelona  when  he  received  the  first  intelligence  of  his  elec- 
tion. He  had  sufficient  strength  of  character  to  avoid  the 
slightest  appearance  of  exultation,  but  received  the  announce- 
ment with  dignity  and  gravity  far  above  his  years. 

The  Spaniards  were  exceedmgly  excited  and  alarmed  by 
the  news.  They  feared  that  their  young  sovereign,  of  whom 
they  had  already  begun  to  be  proud,  would  leave  Spain  to  es- 
tablish his  court  in  the  German  empire,  and  they  should  thus 
be  left,  as  a  distant  province,  to  the  government  of  a  viceroy. 
The  king  was  consequently  flooded  with  petitions,  from  aSl 
parts  of  his  dominions,  not  to  accept  the  imperial  crown.  Bat 
Charles  was  as  ambitious  as  his  grandfather,  Maximilian,  whose 
foresight  and  maneuvering  had  set  in  train  those  influences 
which  had  elevated  him  to  the  imperial  dignity. 

Soon  a  solemn  embassy  arrived,  and,  with  the  customary 
pomp,  proffered  to  Charles  the  crown  which  so  many  had  cov- 
eted. Charles  accepted  the  ofiice,  and  made  immediate  prepa* 
rations,  notwithstanding  the  increasing  clamor  of  his  subjects, 
to  go  to  Germany  for  his  coronation.  Intrusting  the  govern- 
ment of  Spain  during  his  absence  to  officers  in  whom  he  re- 
posed confidence,  he  embarked  on  shipboard,  and  landing 
first  at  Dover  in  England,  made  a  visit  of  four  days  to 
Henry  VIII.  He  then  continued  his  voyage  to  the  Nether* 
lands  ;  proceeding  thence  to  Aix-la-Chapelle,  he  was  crowned 
on  the  20th  of  October,  1620,  with  magnificence  far  surpassing 
that  of  any  of  his  predecessors.  Thus  Charles  V.,  when  bat 
twenty  years  of  age,  was  the  King  of  Spain  and  the  crowned 


108  THE     HOUSE     OP      AUSTRIA. 

Emperor  of  Germany.  It  is  a  great  mistake  to  suppose  tha^ 
youthful  precocity  is  one  of  the  innovations  of  modern  times. 

In  the  changes  of  the  political  kaleidoscope,  Austria  had 
now  become  a  part  of  Spain,  or  rather  a  prince  of  Austrian 
descent,  a  lineal  heir  of  the  house  of  Hapsburg,  had  inherited 
the  dominion  of  Spain,  the  most  extensive  monarchy,  in  its 
continental  domains  and  its  colonial  possessions,  then  upon  the 
globe.  The  Germanic  confederation  at  this  time  made  a  de- 
cided step  in  advance.  Hitherto  the  emperors,  when  crowned, 
had  made  a  sort  of  verbal  promise  to  administer  the  govern- 
ment in  accordance  with  the  laws  and  customs  of  the  several 
states.  They  were,  however,  apprehensive  that  the  new  em- 
peror, availing  himself  of  the  vast  power  which  he  possessed 
independently  of  the  imperial  crown,  might,  by  gradual  en- 
croachments, defi'aud  them  of  their  rights.  A  sort  of  consti- 
tution was  accordingly  drawn  up,  consisting  of  thirty-six  arti- 
cles, defining  quite  minutely  the  laws,  customs  and  privileges 
of  the  empire,  which  constitution  Charles  was  required  to 
sign  before  his  coronation. 

Charles  presided  in  person  over  his  first  diet  which  he  had 
convened  at  Worms  on  the  6th  of  January,  1521.  The  theo- 
logical and  political  war  of  the  Reformation  was  now  agitat- 
ing all  Germany,  and  raging  with  the  utmost  violence.  Luther 
had  torn  the  vaU  from  the  corruptions  of  papacy,  and  was  ex- 
hibiting to  astonished  Europe  the  enormous  aggression  and 
the  unbridled  licentiousness  of  pontifical  power.  Letter  suc- 
ceeded letter,  and  pamphlet  pamphlet,  and  they  fell  upon  the 
decaying  hierarchy  like  shot  and  shell  upon  the  walls  of  a  for- 
tress already  crumbling  and  tottering  through  age. 

On  the  15th  of  July,  1520,  three  months  before  thecor<v 
nation  of  Charles  V.,  the  pope  issued  his  world-renowned  bull 
against  the  intrepid  monk.  He  condemned  Luther  as  a  heretic, 
forbade  the  reading  of  his  writings,  excommunicated  him  if  he 
did  not  retract  within  sixty  days,  and  all  princes  and  states 
w^ere  commanded,  under  pain  of  incurring  the  same  censure, 


OHABLB8    y,    AlTD    TBB    BBFOBMATIOV.      lOB 

«o  seize  his  pei-son  aod  punish  him  and  his  adherents.  Man) 
were  overawed  by  these  menaces  of  the  holy  &ther,  whc 
held  the  keys  of  heaven  and  of  helL  "Hie  fate  of  Luther  wai 
considered  sealed.  His  works  were  publicly  burned  in  several 
cHies. 

Luther,  undaunted,  replied  with  blow  for  blow.  He  de- 
clared the  pope  to  be  antichrist,  renounced  all  obedience  to 
him,  detailed  with  scathing  severity  the  conduct  of  corrupt 
pontiffs,  and  called  npon  the  whole  nation  to  renounce  all  alio, 
giance  to  the  scandalous  court  of  Rome.  To  cap  the  climax 
of  his  contempt  and  defiance,  be,  on  the  10th  of  December, 
1520,  not  two  months  after  the  crowning  of  Charles  V.,  led 
his  admiring  followers,  the  professors  and  students  of  the  uni- 
versity of  Wittemberg,  in  procession  to  the  eastern  gate  of 
the  city,  where,  in  the  presence  of  a  vast  concourse,  he  com- 
mitted the  papal  bull  to  the  flames,  exclaiming,  in  the  words 
of  EzeMel,  **  Because  thou  hast  troubled  the  Holy  One  of  God, 
let  eternal  fire  consume  thee.'*  This  dauntless  spirit  of  the  re- 
former inspired  his  disciples  throughout  Germany  with  new 
eourage,  and  in  many  other  cities  the  pope's  bull  of  excommu- 
nication was  burned  with  expressions  of  indignation  and  ocm- 
tempt. 

Such  was  the  state  of  this  great  religions  controversy  when 
Charles  V.  held  his  first  diet  at  Worms.  The  pope,  wieldii^ 
all  the  energies  of  religious  fimaticism,  and  with  immense  tem 
poral  revenues  at  his  disposal,  with  ecclesiastics,  ofi^cers  of  faift 
spiritual  court,  scattered  all  over  Europe,  who  exercised  almost 
a  supernatural  power  over  the  minds  of  the  benighted  maaseSi 
was  still  perhaps  the  most  formidable  power  in  Europe.  The 
new  emperor,  with  immense  schemes  of  ambition  opening  be* 
fore  his  youthful  and  ardent  mind,  and  with  no  principles  of 
heartfelt  piety  to  incline  him  to  seek  and  love  the  truth,  as  a 
matter  of  course  sought  the  favor  of  the  imperial  pontiff,  and 
was  not  at  all  disposed  to  espouse  the  cause  of  the  obscure 
monk. 


110  THE     HOUSE     OF     ATTSTBIA 

Charles,  therefore,  received  courteously  the  legates  cf  the 
pontiff  at  the  diet,  gave  them  a  friendly  hearing  as  they  in- 
veighed against  the  heresy  of  Luther,  and  proposed  that  the 
diet  should  also  condemn  the  reformer.  Fortunately  for  Lu 
ther  lie  was  a  subject  of  the  electorate  of  Saxony,  and  neither 
pope  nor  emperor  could  touch  him  but  through  the  elector. 
Frederic,  the  Duke  of  Saxony,  one  of  the  electoi's  of  the  em- 
pire, governed  a  territory  of  nearly  fifteen  thousand  square 
miles,  more  than  twice  as  large  as  the  State  of  Massachusetts, 
and  containing  nearly  three  millions  of  inhabitants.  The  duchy 
has  since  passed  through  many  changes  and  dismemberments, 
but  in  the  early  part  of  the  sixteenth  century  the  Elector  of 
Saxony  was  one  of  the  most  powerful  princes  of  the  German 
empire.  Frederic  was  not  disposed  to  surrender  his  subject  un- 
tried and  uncondemned  to  the  discipline  of  the  Roman  pontiff 
He  accordingly  objected  to  this  summary  condemnation  of 
Luther,  and  declared  that  before  judgment  was  pronounced, 
the  accused  should  be  heard  in  his  own  defense.  Charles,  who 
was  by  no  means  aware  how  extensively  the  opinions  of  Luther 
had  been  circulated  and  received,  was  surprised  to  find  many 
nobles,  each  emboldened  by  the  rest,  rise  in  the  diet  and  de- 
nounce, in  terms  of  ever-increasing  severity,  the  exactions  and 
the  arrogance  of  the  court  of  Rome. 

Notwithstanding  the  remonstrances  of  the  pope's  legates, 
the  emperor  found  it  necessary  to  yield  to  the  demands  of  the 
•Jiet,  and  to  allow  Luther  the  privilege  of  being  heard,  though 
De  avowed  to  the  friends  of  the  pope  that  Luther  should  not 
be  permitted  to  make  any  defense,  but  should  only  have  an 
opportunity  to  confess  his  heresy  and  implore  forgi\eness. 
Worms,  where  the  diet  was  in  session,  on  the  west  banks  of  the 
Rhine,  was  not  within  the  territories  of  the  Elector  of  Saxony, 
and  consequently  the  emperor,  in  sending  a  summons  to  Lu- 
ther to  present  himself  before  the  diet,  sent,  also,  a  safe  conduct. 
With  alacrity  the  bold  reformer  obeyed  the  summons.  From 
Wittemberg,  where  Luther  was  both  professor  in  the  univer 


CBABLB8    V.    ATSV   TBB    BBFOBU  ATIOV .        Ill 

flity  »id  also  pastor  of  a  ohoroh,  to  Wortos,  was  a  distance  of 
nearly  three  hundred  miles.  But  the  journey  of  the  reformer 
through  all  of  this  long  road  was  almost  like  a  triumphal  process 
don.  Crowds  gathered  everywhere  to  behold  the  man  who 
bad  dared  to  bid  defiance  to  the  terrors  of  that  spiritual  pow- 
er before  which  the  haughtiest  monarchs  had  trembled.  TTie 
people  had  read  the  writings  of  Luther,  and  justly  regarded 
him  as  the  advocate  of  civil  and  religious  liberty.  The  nobleSi 
who  had  often  been  humiliated  by  the  arrogance  of  the  poii« 
tifl^  admired  a  man  who  was  bringing  a  new  power  mto  the 
field  for  their  disenthrallment. 

When  Luther  had  arrived  within  three  miles  of  Worma, 
accompanied  by  a  few  tiiends  and  the  imperial  herald  who  had 
summoned  him,  he  was  met  by  a  procession  of  two  thousand 
persons,  who  had  come  from  the  city  to  form  his  escort.  SooM 
friends  in  the  city  sent  him  a  warning  that  be  could  not  rely 
apon  the  protection  of  his  safe  conduct^  that  he  would  proba- 
bly be  perfidiously  arrested,  and  they  intreated  him  to  retire  iafei 
mediately  again  to  Saxony.    Luther  made  the  memorable  rejrfy, 

**  I  will  go  to  Worms,  if  as  many  devils  meet  me  there  80 
there  are  tiles  upon  the  roofs  of  the  houses." 

The  emperor  was  astonished  to  find  that  greater  crowds 
were  assembled,  and  greater  enthusiasm  was  displayed  in  wit* 
nessing  the  entrance  of  the  monk  of  Wittemberg,  than  had 
greeted  the  imperial  entrance  to  the  city. 

It  was  indeed  an  august  assemblage  before  which  Luther 
was  arrayed.  The  emperor  himself  presided,  sustained  by  his 
brother,  the  Ai'chduke  Ferdinand.  Six  electors,  twenty-four 
dukes,  seven  margraves,  thirty  bishops  and  prelates,  and  as 
ancounted  number  of  princes,  counts,  lords  and  ambassadors 
filled  the  spacious  hall.  It  was  the  18th  of  April,  1521.  Hia 
^)eech,  fearless,  dignified,  eloquent,  unanswerable,  ocxiupied 
two  hours.    He  closed  with  the  noble  words, 

"  Let  me  be  refuted  and  convinced  by  the  testimony  of  the 
Scriptures  or  by  the  clearest  arguments ;  otherwise  I  can  not 


113  THB    HOtrSS    OF    AITSTBIA. 

and  will  not  recant ;  for  it  is  neither  safe  nor  expedient  to  ad 
agaio'st  conscience.  Here  I  take  my  stand.  I  can  do  no  other- 
wise, so  help  me  God,  Amen." 

In  this  sublime  moral  conflict  Luther  came  off  the  undis- 
puted conqueror.  The  legates  of  the  pope,  exasperated  at  his 
triumph,  intreated  the  emperor  to  arrest  him,  in  defiance  of 
his  word  of  honor  pledged  for  his  safety.  Charles  rejected 
the  infamous  proposal  with  disdain.  Still  he  was  greatly  an- 
noyed at  so  serious  a  schism  in  the  Church,  which  threatened 
to  alienate  from  him  the  patronage  of  the  pope.  It  was  evi- 
dent that  Luther  was  too  strongly  intrenched  in  the  hearts  ol 
the  Germans,  for  the  youthful  emperor,  whose  crown  was  not 
yet  warm  upon  his  brow,  and  who  was  almost  a  stranger  ia 
Germany,  to  undertake  to  crush  him.  To  appease  the  pope  he 
drew  up  an  apologetic  declaration,  in  which  he  said,  in  terms 
which  do  not  honor  his  memory, 

"  Descended  as  I  am  from  the  Chiistian  emperors  of  Ger- 
many, the  Catholic  kings  of  Spain,  and  from  the  archdukes  ot 
Austria  and  the  Dukes  of  Burgundy,  all  of  whom  have  pre- 
served, to  the  last  moment  of  their  lives,  their  fidelity  to  the 
Church,  and  have  always  been  the  defenders  and  protectors  of 
the  Catholic  faith,  its  decrees,  ceremonies  and  usages,  I  have 
been,  am  still,  and  will  ever  be  devoted  to  those  Christian  doc- 
trines, and  the  constitution  of  the  Church  which  they  have  left 
to  me  as  a  sacred  inheritance.  And  as  it  is  evident  that  a 
simple  monk  has  advanced  opinions  contrary  to  the  sentiments 
of  all  Christians,  past  and  present,  I  am  firmly  determined 
to  wipe  away  the  reproach  which  a  toleration  of  such  errors 
would  cast  on  Germany,  and  to  employ  all  my  powers  and 
resources,  my  body,  my  blood,  my  life,  and  even  my  soul,  in 
checking  the  progress  of  this  sacrilegious  doctrine.  I  will  not, 
therefore,  permit  Luther  to  enter  into  any  further  explanation, 
and  will  instantly  dismiss  and  afterward  treat  him  as  a  heretic. 
But  I  can  not  violate  my  safe  conduct,  but  will  cause  him  to 
be  conducted  safely  back  to  Wittemberg." 


OBABLBS    V.    AND    THK    RB  F  O  RM  ATI  O  If .         118 

The  emperor  now  attempted  to  accomplish  by  intiiguo 
that  which  he  could  not  attain  by  authority  of  force.  He  held 
a  private  interview  with  the  reformer,  and  endeavored,  by  all 
those  arts  at  the  disposal  of  an  emperor,  to  influence  Luther 
to  a  recantation.  Failing  utterly  in  this,  he  delayed  further 
operations  for  a  month,  until  many  of  the  diet,  including  the 
Elector  of  Saxony  and  other  powerful  friends  of  Luther,  had 
retired.  He  then,  having  carefully  retained  those  who  would 
be  obsequious  to  his  will,  caused  a  decree  to  be  enacted,  as  it 
H  were  the  unanimous  sentiment  of  the  diet,  that  Luther  was 
a  heretic;  confirmed  the  sentence  of  the  pope,  and  pronounced 
the  ban  of  the  empire  against  all  who  should  countenance  or 
protect  him. 

But  Luther,  on  the  26th  of  May,  had  left  Worms  on  his 
return  to  Wittemberg.  When  he  had  passed  over  about  half 
the  distance,  his  friend  and  admirer,  Frederic  of  Saxony,  con- 
acious  of  the  imminent  peril  which  hung  over  the  intrepid 
monk,  sent  a  troop  of  masked  horsemen  who  seized  him  and 
conveyed  him  to  the  castle  of  Wartburg,  where  Frederic  kept 
him  safely  concealed  for  nine  months,  not  allowing  even  his 
fidends  to  know  the  place  of  his  concealment.  Luther,  acqui- 
escing in  the  prudence  of  this  measure,  called  this  retreat  his 
Patmos,  and  devoted  himself  most  assiduously  to  the  study  of 
the  Scriptures,  and  commenced  his  most  admirable  translation 
of  the  Bible  into  the  German  language,  a  work  which  has  con- 
tributed vastly  more  than  all  others  to  disseminate  the  princi- 
ples of  the  Reformation  throughout  German/. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  MaximiUan's  son  Ferdinand, 
who  was  brother  to  Charles  V.,  had  married  Anne,  daughter 
of  Ladislaus,  King  of  Hungary  and  Bohemia.  Disturbances 
til  Spain  rendered  it  necessary  for  the  emperor  to  leave  Ger- 
many, and  for  eight  years  his  attention  was  almost  constantly 
occupied  by  wars  and  intrigues  in  southern  Europe.  Ferdi- 
nand was  invested  with  the  government  of  the  Austrian  States. 
In  the  year  1521,  Leo  X.  died,  and  Adrian,  who  seems  to  have 


J14  THE     HOITSB      >V     AUSTRIA. 

been  truly  a  conscientious  Christian  man,  assumed  the  tiam 
He  saw  the  deep  corruptions  of  the  Church,  confessed  theta 
openly,  mourned  over  them  and  declared  that  the  Churoh 
needed  a  thorough  reformation. 

This  admission,  of  course,  wonderfully  strengthened  the 
Lutheran  party.  The  diet,  meeting  soon  after,  drew  up  a  list 
of  a  hundred  grievances,  which  they  intreated  the  pope  to  re* 
form,  declaring  that  Germany  could  no  longer  endure  them. 
They  declared  that  Luther  had  opened  the  eyes  of  the  peoj^e 
to  these  corruptions,  and  that  they  would  not  suffer  the  edicts 
of  the  diet  of  Worms  to  be  enforced.  Ferdinand  of  Austria, 
entering  into  the  views  of  his  brother,  was  anxious  to  arrest 
the  progress  of  the  new  ideas,  now  spreading  with  great  ra- 
pidity, and  he  entered — ^instructed  by  a  legate,  Carapegio,  from 
the  pope — into  an  engagement  with  the  Duke  of  Bavaria,  and 
most  of  the  German  bishops,  to  carry  the  edict  of  Worms  into 
effect. 

Frederic,  the  Elector  of  Saxony,  died  in  1525,  but  he  was 
succeeded  by  bis  brother  John  the  Constant,  who  cordially 
embraced  and  publicly  avowed  the  doctrines  of  the  Reforma 
tion ;  and  Luther,  in  July  of  this  year,  gave  the  last  mgna 
proof  of  his  entire  emancipation  from  the  superstitions  of  tht 
papacy  by  maiTying  Catharine  Bora,  a  noble  lady  who,  having 
espoused  his  views,  had  left  the  nunnery  where  she  had  been 
an  inmate.  It  is  impossible  for  one  now  to  conceive  the  im- 
pression which  was  produced  in  Catholic  Europe  by  the  mar- 
riage of  a  priest  and  a  nun. 

Many  of  the  German  princes  now  followed  the  example 
of  John  of  Saxony,  and  openly  avowed  their  faith  in  the  Lu 
theran  doctrines.  In  the  Austrian  States,  notwithstanding 
all  Ferdinand's  efforts  to  the  contrary,  the  new  faith  steadily 
spread,  commanding  the  assent  of  the  most  virtuous  and  the 
most  intelligent.  Many  of  the  nobles  avowed  themselves 
Lutherans,  as  did  even  some  of  the  professors  in  the  miiversity 
at  Vienna.    The  vital  questions  at  issue,  taking  hold,  as  tiiey 


CHAULBS    V.     AND     THE     REFORMATION.         IIS 

did,  of  the  deepest  emoiions  of  the  soul  and  the  daily  habits 
of  life,  roused  the  general  mind  to  the  most  intense  activity. 
The  bitterest  hostility  sprung  up  between  the  two  parties, 
and  many  persons,  without  piety  and  without  judgment, 
threw  off  the  superstitions  of  the  papacy,  only  to  adopt  other 
snperstitions  equally  revolting.  The  sect  of  Anabaptists  rose, 
abjuring  all  civil  as  well  as  all  religious  authority,  claiming  to 
be  the  elect  of  God,  advocating  a  community  of  goods  and 
of  wives,  and  discarding  all  restraint.  They  roused  the  ig- 
norant peasantry,  and  easily  showed  them  that  they  were 
suffering  as  much  injustice  from  feudal  lords  as  from  papal 
bishops.  It  was  the  breaking  out  of  the  French  Revolution 
OD  a  small  scale.  Germany  was  desolated  by  infuriate  bands, 
demolishing  alike  the  castles  of  the  nobles  and  the  palaces  of 
the  bishops,  and  sparing  neither  age  nor  sex  in  their  indis- 
criminate slaughter. 

The  insurrection  was  so  terrible,  that  both  Lutherans  and 
papists  united  to  quell  it ;  and  so  fierce  were  these  fanatics, 
that  a  hundred  thousand  perished  on  fields  of  blood  before 
the  rebellion  was  quelled.  These  outrages  were,  of  course,  by 
the  Catholics  regarded  as  the  legitimate  results  of  the  new 
doctrines,  and  it  surely  can  not  be  denied  that  they  sprung  from 
tiiem.  The  fire  which  glows  on  the  hearth  may  consume  the 
dwelling.  But  Luther  and  his  friends  assailed  the  Anabap- 
tists with  every  weapon  they  could  wield.  The  Catholics 
formed  powerful  combinations  to  arrest  the  spread  of  evan- 
gelical views.  The  reformers  organized  combinations  equally 
powerful  to  diffuse  those  opinions,  which  they  were  sure  in- 
Tolved  the  welfare  of  the  world. 

Charles  V.,  having  somewhat  allayed  the  troubles  which 
flarassed  him  in  southern  Europe,  now  turned  his  attention 
to  Germany,  and  resolved,  with  a  strong  hand,  to  suppress  the 
religious  agitation.  In  a  letter  to  the  German  States  he  very 
peremptorily  announced  his  determination,  declaring  that  he 
would  exterminate  the  errors  of  Luth(;r,  exhorting  them  tc 


f  19  TBB     BOUSE     07     AUSTBIA. 

resist  all  attacks  against  the  ancient  nsages  of  the  Ohoroh,  and 
expressing  to  each  of  the  Catholic  prmces  his  earnest  approval 
of  their  conduct. 

Germany  was  now  threatened  with  civil  war.  The  Catb> 
©lies  demanded  the  enforcement  of  the  edict  of  Worms. 
The  reformers  Remanded  perfect  toleration — that  every  man 
should  enjoy  freedom  of  opinion  and  of  worship,  A  new  war 
in  Italy  perhaps  prevented  this  appeal  to  arms,  as  Charles  V. 
found  himself  involved  m  new  difficulties  which  engrossed  all 
his  energies.  Ferdinand  found  the  Austrian  States  so  divided 
by  this  controversy,  that  it  became  necessary  for  him  to  as- 
stime  some  degree  of  impartiality,  and  to  submit  to  some* 
thing  like  toleration  A  new  pope,  Clement  VTI.,  succeeded 
the  short  reign  of  Adrian,  and  all  the  ambition,  intrigne  and 
corruption  which  had  hitherto  marked  the  course  of  the  court 
of  Rome,  resumed  their  sway.  The  pope  formed  the  cele- 
brated Holy  League  to  arrest  the  progress  of  the  new  opin- 
ions ;  and  this  led  all  the  princes  of  the  empire,  who  had  es> 
poused  the  Lutheran  doctrines,  more  openly  and  cordially  to 
combine  in  self-defense.  In  every  country  in  Europe  the  doc- 
trines of  the  reformer  spread  rapidly,  and  the  pap^  throne 
was  shaken  to  its  base. 

Charles  V,,  whose  arms  were  snccessflil  in  southern  En- 
rope,  and  whose  power  was  daily  bcreasing,  was  still  very 
desirous  of  restoring  quiet  to  Europe  by  reestablishing  the 
supremacy  of  the  papal  Church,  and  crushing  out  dissent. 
He  accordingly  convened  another  diet  at  Spires,  the  capital 
of  Rhenish  Bavaria,  on  the  15th  of  March,  1529.  As  the  em- 
peror was  detained  in  Italy,  his  brother  Ferdinand  presnded. 
The  diet  was  of  course  divided,  but  the  majority  passed  very 
stringent  resolutions  against  the  Reformation.  It  was  enacted 
that  the  edict  of  Worms  should  be  enforced  ;  that  the  masi 
should  be  refistablished  wherever  it  had  been  abolished ;  and 
that  preachers  should  promulgate  no  new  doctrines.  The  mi 
nority  entered  their  protest     Hiey  nrged  that  the  mass  had 


OBABLBS    V.    AND     THE     REFORMATION.  117 

been  clearly  proved  to  be  contrary  to  the  Word  of  God  ;  that 
the  Scriptures  were  the  only  certain  rule  of  life  ;  and  declared 
their  resolution  to  maintain  the  truths  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments,  regardless  of  traditions.  This  Protest  was  sus- 
tained by  powerful  names — John,  Elector  of  Saxony ;  George, 
Margrave  of  Brandenburg ;  two  Dukes  of  Brunswick ;  the 
Landgrave  of  Hesse  Cassel;  the  Prince  of  Anhalt,  and  fourteen 
imperial  cities,  to  which  were  soon  added  ten  more.  Nothing 
can  more  decisively  show  than  this  the  wonderful  progiesa 
which  the  Reformation  in  so  short  a  time  had  made.  From 
this  Protest  the  reformers  received  the  name  of  Protestants, 
which  they  have  since  retained. 

The  emperor,  flushed  with  success,  now  resolved,  with  nevr 
energy,  to  assail  the  principles  of  the  Reformation.  Leaving 
Spain  he  went  to  Italy,  and  met  the  pope,  Clement  Vll,,  at 
Bologna,  in  February,  1530.  The  pope  and  the  emperor  held 
many  long  and  private  interviews.  What  they  said  no  one 
knows.  But  Charles  V.,  who  was  eminently  a  sagacious  man, 
became  convinced  that  the  difficulty  had  become  far  too  se- 
rious to  be  easily  healed,  that  men  of  such  power  had  embraced 
the  Lutheran  doctrines  that  it  was  expedient  to  change  the 
tone  of  menace  into  one  of  respect  and  conciliation.  He  ac- 
cordingly issued  a  call  for  another  diet  to  meet  in  April,  1530, 
at  the  city  of  Augsburg  in  Bavaria. 

"  I  have  convened,"  he  wrote,  "  this  assembly  to  consider 
the  difference  of  opinion  on  the  subject  of  religion.  It  is  my 
intention  to  hear  both  parties  with  candor  and  charity,  to  ex 
amine  their  respective  arguments,  to  correct  and  reform  what 
requires  to  be  corrected  and  reformed,  that  the  truth  being 
known,  and  harmony  established,  there  may,  in  future,  be  only 
Qme  pure  and  simple  faith,  and,  as  all  are  disciples  of  the  same 
Jesus,  all  may  form  one  and  the  same  Church." 

These  fair  words,  however,  only  excited  the  suspicions  ot 
the  Protestants,  which  suspicions  subsequent  events  proved  to 
be  well  founded.     The  emperor  entered  Augsburg  in  groat 


118  THB    BOTTSB    OP      irSTBIA. 

^ate,  and  immediately  assumed  a  dictatorial  air,  requiring  tiia 
diet  to  attend  high  mass  with  him,  and  to  take  part  in  the 
(M'ocession  of  the  host. 

^  I  will  rather,^  aaid  the  Harqnis  of  Brandenbnrg  to  the 
emperor,  "  instantly  offer  my  head  to  the  executioner,  than 
renonnce  the  gospel  and  approve  idolatry,  Christ  did  not 
Institute  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper  to  be  carried  in 
pomp  through  the  streets,  nor  to  be  adored  by  the  people. 
He  said,  *  Take,  eat: »  but  nssver  said,  *Put  this  sacrament 
into  a  vase,  cariy  it  publicly  in  trinmph,  and  let  the  peo{te 
prostrate  themselves  before  it.' " 

The  Protestants,  availing  themselves  of  the  emperor's  deo> 
laration  that  it  was  his  intention  to  hear  the  sentimeits  of 
all,  drew  up  a  confession  of  their  faith,  which  they  presented 
to  the  emperor  in  German  and  in  Latin.  This  celebrated 
creed  is  known  in  history  as  the  Confession  0/ Augsburg. 
The  emperor  was  quite  embarrassed  by  this  document,  as  he 
was  well  aware  of  the  argumentative  powers  of  the  reformers, 
and  feared  that  the  document,  attaining  celebrity,  and  being 
read  eagerly  all  over  the  empire,  would  only  multiply  conveita 
to  their  views.  At  first  he  refused  to  allow  it  to  be  read. 
But  finding  that  this  only  created  commotion  which  would 
add  celebrity  to  the  confession,  he  adjourned  the  diet  to  a 
small  chapel  where  but  two  hundred  could  be  convened. 
When  the  Chancellor  of  Saxony  rose  to  read  the  confession, 
the  emperor  commanded  that  he  should  read  the  Latin  copy, 
a  language  which  but  few  of  the  Germans  understood. 

"  Sire,"  said  the  chancellor,  "  we  are  now  on  German 
ground.  I  trust  that  your  majesty  will  not  order  the  apology 
of  our  Mth,  which  ought  to  be  made  as  public  as  possible,  to 
be  read  in  a  language  not  understood  by  the  Germans." 

The  emperor  was  compelled  to  yield  to  so  reasonable  a 
request.  The  adjacent  apartments,  and  the  court-yard  of  the 
palace,  were  all  filled  with  an  eager  crowd.  Hie  dianoeUat 
read  the  creed  in  a  voice  so  clear  and  loud  that  the  wfaolf 


0BABLB8    V.     AHD    THB    BEF0RMATI017.      119 

multitude  could  hear.  The  emperor  was  very  uneasy,  and  at 
the  close  of  the  reading,  which  occupied  two  hours,  took  both 
the  Latin  and  the  German  copies,  and  requested  that  the  ooik 
Cession  should  not  be  published  without  his  consent.  Luther 
and  Melancthon  drew  up  this  celebrated  document.  Melano> 
thon  was  an  exceedingly  mild  and  amiable  man,  and  such  a 
lover  of  peace  that  he  would  perhaps  do  a  little  violence  to 
his  own  conscience  in  the  attempt  to  conciliate  those  from 
whom  he  was  constrained  to  differ.  Luther,  on  the  contrary, 
was  a  man  of  great  force,  decision  and  fearlessness,  who  would 
speak  the  truth  in  the  plainest  terms,  without  softening  a 
phrase  to  conciliate  either  friend  or  foe.  The  Confession  of 
Augsburg  being  the  joint  production  of  both  Melancthon  and 
Luther,  did  not  eaactly  suit  either.  It  was  a  little  too  un- 
eompromising  for  Melancthon,  a  little  too  pliant  and  yieldii^ 
Ibr  Luther.  Melancthon  soon  after  took  the  confession  and 
changed  it  to  bring  it  into  more  entire  accordance  witl.  his 
spirit.  Hence  a  division  which,  in  oblivion  of  its  origin,  has 
continued  to  the  present  day.  lliose  who  adhered  to  the 
original  document  which  was  presented  to  the  emperor,  were 
called  Lutherans ;  those  who  adopted  the  confession  as  so^ 
ened  by  Melancthon,  were  called  German  Reformed. 

The  emperor  now  threw  off  the  mask,  and  carrying  with 
him  the  majority  of  the  diet,  issued  a  decree  of  intoleranoa 
and  menace,  in  which  he  declared  that  all  the  cereraonieSi 
doctrines  and  usages  of  the  papal  church,  without  exception, 
were  to  be  reestablished,  married  priests  deposed,  suppressed 
convents  restored,  and  every  innovation,  of  whatever  kind,  to 
be  revoked.  All  who  opposed  this  decree  were  to  be  exposed 
(o  the  ban  of  the  empire,  with  all  its  pains  and  penalties. 

This  was  indeed  an  appalling  measure.  Recantation  or  war 
was  the  only  alternative.  Charles,  being  still  much  ocoapied 
by  the  afi&irs  of  his  vast  kingdom  of  Spain,  with  all  its  am* 
bitions  and  wai-s,  needed  a  coadjutor  in  tlie  government  of 
Germany,  as  serious  trouble  was  evidently  near  at  har  d.     He 


120  TBB     HOUSE     OF     AUSTRIA. 

therefore  proposed  the  election  of  his  brother  Ferdinand  as 
coadjutor  with  him  in  administering  the  affairs  of  Germany. 
Ferdinand,  who  had  recently  united  to  the  Austrian  territories 
the  crowns  of  Hungary  and  Bohemia,  was  consequently  chosen, 
on  the  5th  of  January,  1531,  King  of  the  Romans.  Charlai 
was  determined  to  enforce  his  decrees,  and  both  parties  n3W 
prepared  for  war. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

CHARLES   V.    AND    THE    REFORMATION. 
Fbom  1631  TO  1652. 

D*TBBMINATIO>t  TO   0BTT8H  PB0TBeTANTI8M. — InCFRSION  OP  THE   TtTBKS. — VaLOB    OF  tHt 

Pbotbstants. — Pebpabations  fob  benbwibd  HosTrLixiES.— Augmentation  of  thi 
Pbotestant  Fobobs. — ^Thb  Counoil  of  Tebnt. — Mutual  Coxsteknation.— Defeat 
OF  THE  Pbotestant  Aemt. — Unlooked  fob  Succob. — Revolt  in  the  EmpebobM 
Abht. — The  Fluctuations  op  Fobtunb.— Ignoble  Revenge. — Captueb  op  Wn^ 

TEMBERG. — PROTESTANTISM  APPARENTLY  CEUSnED. — PlOT  AGAINST  ChABLES. — MaUR- 

ice  of  8axony. — A  Change  of  Sobnb. — ^The  Biteb  bit. — The  Empebob  EnrMBLED.— 
His  Fught.— His  OBTKBimnQ)  Wili» 

rpHE  intolerant  decrees  of  the  diet  of  Augsburg,  and  the 
-*-  evident  determination  of  the  emperor  unrelentingly  to 
enforce  them,  spread  the  greatest  alarm  among  the  Protest- 
ants. They  immediately  assembled  at  Smalkalde  in  Decem- 
ber, 1530,  and  entered  into  a  league  for  mutual  protection. 
The  emperor  was  resolved  to  crush  the  Protestants.  The 
Protestants  were  resolved  not  to  be  crushed.  The  sword  of 
the  Catholics  was  drawn  for  the  assault — the  sword  of  the 
reformers  for  defense.  Civil  war  was  just  bursting  forth  in 
all  its  horrors,  when  the  Turks,  with  an  army  three  hundred 
thousand  strong,  like  ravening  wolves  rushed  into  Hungar' 
This  danger  was  appalling.  The  Turks  in  their  bloody  marcc 
had,  as  yet,  encountered  no  eflfectual  resistance  ;  though  they 
had  experienced  temporary  checks,  their  progress  had  been  on 
the  whole  resistless,  and  wherever  they  had  planted  their  feet 
they  had  established  themselves  firmly.  Originating  as  a 
email  tribe  on  the  shores  of  the  Caspian,  they  had  spread 
over  aU  Asia  Minor,  had  crossed  the  Bosphorus,  captured 
Constantinople,  and  had  brought  all  Greece  under  their  sway. 
Hkey  were  still  pressing  on,  flushed  with  victory.    Christian 


122  THE      HOUSE     OF     AUSTRIA. 

Europe  was  trembling  before  them.  And  now  an  army  of 
three  hundred  thousand  had  crossed  the  Danube,  sweeping  aU 
opposition  before  them,  and  were  spreading  terror  and  de- 
struction through  Hungary.  The  capture  of  that  immense 
kingdom  seemed  to  leave  all  Europe  defenseless. 

The  emperor  and  his  Catholic  friends  were  fearfully  alarmed. 
Here  was  a  danger  more  to  be  dreaded  than  even  the  doctrines 
of  Luther.  All  the  energies  of  Christendom  were  requisite  to 
repel  this  invasion.  The  emperor  was  compelled  to  appeal  to 
the  Protestant  princes  to  coojierate  in  this  great  emergence. 
But  they  had  more  to  fear  from  the  fiery  persecution  of  the 
papal  church  than  fi-om  the  cimeter  of  the  infidelj  and  they 
refused  any  cooperation  with  the  emperor  so  long  as  the  men- 
aces ol  the  Augsburg  decrees  were  suspended  over  them.  The 
emperor  wished  the  Protestants  to  help  him  drive  out  the 
Turks,  that  then,  relieved  from  that  danger,  he  might  turn  aU 
his  energies  against  the  Protestants. 

After  various  negotiations  it  was  agreed,  as  a  temporary 
arrangement,  that  there  should  be  a  truce  of  the  Catholic  per- 
secution until  another  general  council  should  be  called,  and 
that  until  then  the  Protestants  should  be  allowed  freedom  of 
conscience  and  of  worship.  The  German  States  now  turned 
their  whole  force  against  the  Turks.  The  Protestants  contrib- 
uted to  the  war  with  energy  which  amazed  the  Catholics. 
They  even  trebled  the  contingents  which  they  had  agreed  to 
fuinish,  and  marched  to  the  assault  with  the  greatest  intrepid- 
ity. The  Turks  were  driven  from  Hungary,  and  then  the 
emperor,  in  violation  of  his  pledge,  recommenced  proceeding 
against  the  Protestants.  But  it  was  the  worst  moment  the 
infatuated  emperor  could  have  selected.  The  Protestants, 
already  armed  and  marshaled,  were  not  at  all  disposed  to  lie 
down  to  be  trodden  upon  by  their  foes.  They  renewed  their 
confederacy,  drove  the  emperor's  Austrian  troops  out  of  the 
territories  of  Wirtemberg,  which  they  had  seized,  and  restored 
the  duchy  to  the  Protestant  duke,  XJlric.     Civil  war  had  now 


CBABLBS     V.     AND    THB     REFORMATION.      13S 

eommenced.  But  the  Protestants  were  strong,  determined, 
and  had  proved  their  valor  in  the  recent  war  with  the  Turks. 
The  more  moderate  of  the  papal  party,  foreseeing  a  strife 
which  might  be  interminable,  interposed,  and  succeeded  in 
effecting  a  compromise  which  again  secured  transient  peace. 

Charles,  however,  had  not  yet  abandoned  his  design  to 
compel  the  Protestants  to  return  to  the  papal  church.  He 
was  merely  temporizing  till  he  could  bring  such  an  array  of 
the  papal  powers  against  the  reformers  that  they  could  present 
no  successful  resistance.  With  this  intention  he  entered  into 
a  secret  treaty  with  the  powerful  King  of  France,  in  which 
Francis  agreed  to  concentrate  all  the  forces  of  his  kingdom  to 
crush  the  Lutheran  doctrines.  He  then  succeeded  in  conclud- 
ing a  truce  with  the  Turks  for  five  years.  He  was  now  pre- 
pared to  act  with  decision  against  the  reformed  religion. 

But  while  Charles  had  been  marshaling  his  party  the  Prot- 
estants had  been  rapidly  increasing.  Eloquent  preachers,  able 
writers,  had  everywhere  proclaimed  the  corruptions  of  the 
papacy  and  urged  a  pure  gospel.  These  corruptions  were  so 
palpable  that  they  could  not  bear  the  light.  The  most  intelli- 
gent and  conscientious,  all  over  Eui'ope,  were  rapidly  embra- 
cing the  new  doctrines.  These  new  doctrines  embraced  and 
involved  principles  of  civil  as  well  as  religious  liberty.  The 
Bible  is  the  most  formidable  book  which  was  ever  penned 
against  aristocratic  usurpation.  God  is  the  universal  Father. 
All  men  are  brothers.  The  despots  of  that  day  regarded  the 
controversy  as  one  which,  in  the  end,  involved  the  stability  oi 
then-  thrones.  "  Give  us  light,"  the  Protestants  said.  "  Give 
us  darkness,"  responded  the  papacy,  "  or  the  submissive 
masses  will  rise  and  overthrow  despotic  thrones  as  well  aa 
idolatrous  altars." 

Several  of  the  ablest  and  most  powerful  of  the  bishops 
who,  in  that  day  of  darkness,  had  been  groping  in  the  dark, 
now  that  light  had  come  into  the  world,  rejoiced  in  that  light, 
and  enthusiastically  espoused  the  truth.     The  emperor  wa» 


194  THE     HO  USB     OF     AUSTRIA. 

quite  appalled  when  he  learned  that  the  Archbishop  of  Co« 
logne,  who  was  also  one  of  the  electors  of  the  empire,  had 
joined  the  reformers ;  for,  in  addition  to  the  vast  influence  ol 
his  name,  this  conversion  gave  the  Protestants  a  majoiity  in  the 
electoral  diet,  so  many  of  the  German  jjrinces  had  already 
adopted  the  opinions  of  Luther.  The  Protestants,  encouraged 
by  the  rapidity  with  which  their  doctrines  were  spreading, 
were  not  at  all  disposed  to  humble  themselves  before  their  op- 
ponents, but  with  their  hands  upon  the  hilts  of  their  swords, 
declared  that  they  would  not  bow  their  necks  to  intolerance. 

It  was  indeed  a  formidable  power  which  the  emperor 
was  now  about  to  marshal  against  the  Protestants.  He  had 
France,  Spain,  all  the  roused  energies  of  the  pope  and  his  ex- 
tended dominions,  and  all  the  Catholic  States  of  the  empire. 
But  Protestantism,  which  had  overrun  Germany,  had  pervaded 
Switzerland  and  France,  and  was  daily  on  the  increase.  The 
pope  and  the  more  zealous  papists  were  impatient  and  indig- 
nant that  the  emperor  did  not  press  his  measures  with  moi'e 
vigor.  But  the  sagacious  Charles  more  clearly  saw  the  diffi- 
culties to  be  surmounted  than  they  did,  and  while  no  less  de- 
termined in  his  resolves,  was  more  jjrudent  and  wary  in  his 
measures. 

With  the  consent  of  the  pope  he  summoned  a  general 
council  to  meet  at  Trent  on  the  confines  of  his  own  Austrian 
territories,  where  he  could  easily  have  every  thing  under  his 
own  control.  He  did  every  thing  in  his  power,  in  the  mean- 
time to  promote  division  among  the  Protestants,  by  trying  to 
enter  into  private  negotiations  with  the  Protestant  princes. 
tie  had  the  effrontery  to  urge  the  Protestants  to  send  their 
livines  to  the  council  of  Trent,  and  agreed  to  abide  by  its 
decisions,  even  when  that  council  was  summoned  by  the  pope, 
and  was  to  be  so  organized  as  to  secure  an  overwhelming  msu 
iority  to  the  papists.  The  Protestants,  of  course,  rejected  so 
silly  a  proposition,  and  refused  to  recognize  the  decrees  of  such 
a  council  as  of  any  binding  authority. 


CHARLBS    V.     AND    THE    REFORMATION.         126 

In  preparation  for  enforcing  the  decrees  which  he  intended 
to  have  enacted  by  the  council  of  Trent,  Charles  obtained 
from  the  pope  thirteen  thousand  troops,  and  five  hundred  thou- 
sand ducats  (one  million  one  hundred  thousand  dollars).  He 
raised  one  army  in  the  Low  Countries  to  march  upon  Ger- 
many. He  gathered  another  army  in  his  hereditary  States  oi 
Austria.  His  brother  Ferdinand,  as  King  of  Hungary  and  Bo- 
hemia, raised  a  large  army  in  each  of  those  dominions.  The 
King  of  France  mustered  his  legions,  and  boasted  of  the  con- 
dign punishment  to  which  he  would  consign  the  heretics.  The 
pope  issued  a  decree  offering  the  entire  j^ardon  of  all  sins  to 
those  who  should  engage  in  this  holy  war  for  the  extirpation 
of  the  doctrines  of  the  reformers. 

The  Protestants  were  for  a  moment  in  consternation  in 
view  of  the  gatherings  of  so  portentous  a  storm.  The  em- 
peror, by  false  professions  and  affected  clemency,  had  so  de- 
ceived them  that  they  were  quite  unprepared  for  so  formida- 
ble an  attack.  They  soon,  however,  saw  that  their  only  salva- 
tion depended  upon  a  vigorous  defense,  and  they  marshaled 
their  forces  for  war.  With  promptness  and  energy  which  even 
astonished  themselves,  they  speedily  raised  an  army  which,  on 
the  jimction  of  its  several  corps,  amounted  to  eiglij;y  thousand 
men.  In  its  intelligence,  valor,  discipline  and  equipments,  it 
was  probably  the  best  army  which  had  ever  been  assembled 
in  the  States  of  Germany.  Resolutely  they  marched  under 
SchartUn,  one  of  the  most  expenenced  generals  of  the  age, 
toward  Ratisbon,  where  the  emperor  was  holding  a  diet. 

Charles  V.  was  as  much  alarmed  by  this  unexpected  ap- 
parition, as  the  Protestants  had  been  alarmed  by  the  prepara- 
tions of  the  emperor.  He  had  supposed  that  his  force  was  so 
resistless  that  the  Protestants  would  see  at  once  the  hopeless- 
ness of  resistance,  and  would  yield  without  a  struggle.  The 
emperor  had  a  guard  of  but  eight  thousand  troops  at  Ratis- 
bon. The  Duke  of  Bavaria,  in  whose  dominions  he  was,  wa* 
flravering,  and  the  papal  troops  had  not  commenced  theb 


126  THB     HOUSE     OP     AUSTRIA. 

march.  But  there  was  not  a  moment  to  be  lost.  The  emperof 
himself  might  be  surrounded  and  taken  captive.  He  retired 
precipitately  about  thirty  miles  south  to  tne  strong  fortress  oi 
Landshut,  where  he  could  hold  out  until  he  received  succor 
from  his  Austrian  territories,  which  were  very  near,  and  also 
from  the  pope. 

Charles  soon  received  powerful  reinforcements  from  Aus- 
tria, from  the  pope,  and  from  his  Spanish  kingdom.  With 
these  he  marched  some  forty  miles  west  to  Ingolstadt  and  in- 
trenched himself  beneath  its  massive  walls.  Here  he  waited 
for  ftirther  reinforcements,  and  then  commencing  the  offen- 
sive, marched  up  the  Danube,  taking  possession  of  the  cities 
on  either  bank.  And  now  the  marshaled  forces  of  the  em- 
peror  began  to  crowd  the  Protestants  on  all  sides.  The  army 
became  bewildered,  and  instead  of  keeping  together,  sepa> 
rated  to  repel  the  attack  at  different  points.  This  caused  the 
ruin  of  the  Protestant  army.  The  dissevered  fragments  were 
speedily  dispersed.  The  emperor  triumphantly  entered  the 
Protestant  cities  of  Ulm  and  Augsburg,  Strasbourg  and  Frank- 
fort, compelled  them  to  accept  humiliating  conditions,  to  sur- 
render their  artillery  and  military  stores,  and  to  pay  enormous 
fines.  The  Archbishop  of  Cologne  was  deposed  from  his  dig» 
nities.  The  emperor  had  thrown  his  foes  upon  the  ground  and 
bound  them. 

All  the  Protestant  princes  but  two  were  vanquished,  the 
Elector  of  Saxony  and  the  Landgrave  of  Hesse.  It  was  evi- 
dent that  they  must  soon  yield  to  the  overwhelming  force  of 
the  emperor.  It  was  a  day  of  disaster,  in  which  no  gleam  of 
light  seemed  to  dawn  upon  the  Protestant  cause.  But  in  that 
gloomy  hour  we  see  again  the  illustration  of  that  sentiment, 
that  "  the  race  is  not  always  to  the  swift  nor  the  battle  to  the 
Btrong.»»  Unthinking  infidelity  says  sarcastically,  "  Providence 
always  helps  the  heavy  battalions."  But  Providence  often 
brings  to  the  discomfited,  in  their  despair,  reinforcements  §M 
unlocked  for. 


0HAELE8  V.  AND  THE  REFORMATION.    127 

There  were  in  the  army  of  Ferdinand,  gathered  from  the 
Austrian  territories  by  the  force  of  military  conscription,  many 
troops  more  or  less  influenced  by  the  reformed  religion.  They 
were  dissatisfied  with  this  warfare  against  their  brothers,  and 
their  dissatisfaction  increased  to  murmurs  and  then  to  revolt. 
Thus  encouraged,  the  Protestant  nobles  in  Bohemia  rose  against 
Ferdinand  their  .king,  and  the  victorious  Ferdinand  suddenly 
found  his  strong  battalions  melting  away,  and  his  banners  on 
the  retreat. 

The  other  powers  of  Europe  began  to  look  with  alarm 
upon  the  vast  ascendency  which  Charles  V.  was  attaining  over 
Europe.  His  exacting  and  aggressive  spirit  assumed  a  more 
menacing  aspect  than  the  doctrines  of  Luther.  The  King 
of  France,  Francis  I.,  T^ath  the  characteristic  perfidy  of  the 
times,  meeting  cunning  with  cunning,  formed  a  secret  league 
against  his  ally,  combining,  in  that  league,  the  English  ministry 
who  governed  during  the  minority  of  Edward  VI.,  and  also 
the  cooperation  of  the  illustrious  Gustavus  Vasa,  the  powerful 
King  of  Sweden,  who  was  then  strongly  inclined  to  that  faith 
of  the  reformers  which  he  afterwards  openly  avowed.  Even 
the  pope,  who  had  always  felt  a  little  jealous  of  the  power  of 
the  emperor,  thought  that  as  the  Protestants  were  now  put 
down  it  might  be  well  to  check  the  ambition  of  Charles  V.  a 
little,  and  he  accordingly  ordered  all  his  troops  to  return  to 
Italy.  The  holy  father,  Paul  III.,  even  sent  money  to  the 
Protestant  Elector  of  Saxony,  to  enable  him  to  resist  the  em- 
peror, and  sent  ambassadors  to  the  Turks,  to  induce  them  to 
break  the  truce  and  make  war  upon  Christendom,  that  the  em- 
peror might  be  thus  embarrassed. 

Charles  thus  found  himself,  in  the  midst  of  his  victo- 
ries, suddenly  at  a  stand.  He  could  no  longer  carry  on  of- 
fensive operations,  but  was  compelled  to  prepare  for  defense 
against  the  attacks  with  which  he  was  threatened  on  every 
nde. 

Again,  the  kaleidoscope  of  political   combination  received 


128  THB     H0U8E     OF     AUSTRIA. 

a  jar,  and  all  was  changed.  The  King  of  France  died.  Thii 
80  embarrassed  the  affairs  of  the  confederation  which  Francis 
had  organized  with  so  much  toil  and  care,  that  Charles  availed 
himself  of  it  to  make  a  sudden  and  vigorous  march  against 
the  Elector  of  Saxony.  He  entered  his  territories  with  an 
army  of  thirty-three  thousand  men,  and  swept  all  opposition 
before  him.  In  a  final  and  desperate  battle  the  troops  of  the 
elector  were  cut  to  pieces,  and  the  elector  himself  sur- 
rounded on  all  sides,  sorely  wounded  in  the  face  and  covered 
with  blood,  was  taken  prisoner.  Charles  disgraced  his  char- 
acter by  the  exhibition  of  a  very  ignoble  spirit  of  revenge. 
The  captive  elector,  as  he  was  led  into  the  presence  of  his 
conqueror,  said — 

"  Most  powerful  and  gracious  emperor,  the  fortune  of 
war  has  now  rendered  me  your  prisoner,  and  I  hope  to  be 
treated — " 

Here  the  emperor  indignantly  interrupted  him,  saying — 

"  I  am  now  your  gracious  emperor !  Lately  you  could  only 
vouchsafe  me  the  title  of  Charles  of  Ghent !" 

Then  turning  abruptly  upon  his  heel,  he  consigned  his 
prisoner  to  the  custody  of  one  of  the  Spanish  generals.  The 
emperor  marched  immediately  to  Wittemberg,  which  was  difr 
tant  but  a  few  miles.  It  was  a  well  fortified  town,  and  was 
resolutely  defended  by  Isabella,  the  wife  of  the  elector.  The 
emperor,  maddened  by  the  resistance,  summoned  a  co)irt 
martial,  and  sentenced  the  elector  to  instant  death  unless  he 
ordered  the  surrender  of  the  fortress.  He  at  first  refused, 
and  prepared  to  die.  But  the  tears  of  his  wife  and  his  family 
conquered  his  resolution,  and  the  city  was  surrendered.  The 
emperor  took  from  his  captive  the  electoral  dignity,  and  ex 
torted  from  him  the  most  cruel  concessions  as  the  ransom  for 
his  life.  Without  a  murmur  he  surrendered  wealth,  powei 
and  rank,  but  neither  entreaties  nor  menaces  could  indaoe 
him  in  a  single  point  to  abjure  his  Christian  faith. 

Charles  now  entered  Wittemberg  in  triumph.    The  great 


OHABLBS    V.     AND    THE    REFORMATION.         129 

reformer  had  just  died.  The  emperor  visited  the  grave  of 
Luther,  and  when  urged  to  dishonor  his  remains,  replied — 

"  I  war  not  with  the  dead,  but  with  the  living.  Let  him 
repose  in  peace  ;  he  is  already  before  his  Judge." 

The  Landgrave  of  Hesse  Cassel,  now  the  only  member  ot 
the  Protestant  league  remaining  in  arms,  was  in  a  condition 
utterly  hopeless,  and  was  compelled  to  make  an  unconditional 
submission. 

The  landgrave,  ruined  in  fortune,  and  crushed  in  spirit, 
was  led  a  captive  into  the  imperial  camp  at  Halle,  in  Saxony, 
the  19th  of  June,  1547.  He  knelt  before  the  throne,  and 
made  an  humble  confession  of  his  crime  in  resisting  the 
emperor ;  he  resigned  himself  and  all  his  dominions  to  the 
clemency  of  his  sovereign.  As  he  rose  to  kiss  the  hand  of 
the  emperor,  Charles  turned  contemptuously  from  him  and 
ordered  him  to  be  conveyed  to  one  of  the  apartments  of  the 
palace  as  a  prisoner.  Most  ignobly  the  emperor  led  his  two 
illustrious  captives,  the  Elector  of  Saxony  and  the  Landgrave 
of  Hesse  Cassel,  as  captives  from  city  to  city,  exhibiting  them 
as  proofs  of  his  triumph,  and  as  a  warning  to  all  others  to 
avoid  their  fate.  Very  strong  jealousies  had  now  sprung  up 
between  the  emperor  and  the  pope,  and  they  could  not  co- 
operate. The  emperor,  consequently,  undertook  to  settle  the 
religious  differences  himself.  He  caused  twenty-six  articles 
to  be  drawn  up  as  the  basis  of  pacification,  which  he  wished 
both  the  Catholics  and  the  Protestants  to  sign.  The  pope 
was  indignant,  and  the  Catholics  were  disgusted  with  this  in- 
terference of  the  emperor  in  the  faith  of  the  Church,  a  matter 
which  in  their  view  belonged  exclusively  to  the  pope  and  the 
councils  which  he  might  convene. 

The  emperor,  however,  resolutely  persevered  in  the  en- 
deavor to  compel  the  Protestants  to  subscribe  to  his  articles, 
and  punished  severely  those  who  refused  to  do  so.  In  his  Bur 
gundian  provinces  he  endeavored  to  establish  the  inquisition, 
that  all  heresy  might  be  nipped  in  the  bud.     la  bis  zeal  he 


ISO  THB     HOUSE     OF     AUSTRIA. 

quite  outstnpped  the  pope.  As  Julius  III.  had  now^  ascended 
the  pontifical  throue,  Charles,  fearful  that  he  might  be  too 
liberal  in  his  policy  towards  the  reformers,  and  might  make 
too  many  concessions,  extorted  from  him  the  promise  that 
he  would  not  introduce  any  reformation  in  the  Church  with- 
out consulting  him  and  obtaining  his  consent.  Thus  the  pope 
himself  became  but  one  of  the  dependents  of  Charles  V., 
and  all  the  corruptions  of  the  Church  were  sustained  by  the 
imperial  arm.  He  then,  through  the  submissive  pope,  sum- 
moned a  council  of  Catholic  divines  to  meet  at  Trent.  He 
had  arranged  in  his  own  mind  the  decrees  which  they  were 
to  issue,  and  had  entered  into  a  treaty  with  the  new  King  of 
France,  Henry  II,,  by  which  the  French  monarch  agreed, 
with  all  the  military  force  of  his  kingdom,  to  maintain  the 
decrees  of  the  council  of  Trent,  whatever  they  might  be. 

The  emperor  had  now  apparently  attained  all  his  ends. 
He  had  crushed  the  Protestant  league,  vanquished  the  Prot- 
estant princes,  subjected  the  pope  to  his  will,  arranged  re- 
ligious matters  according  to  his  views,  and  had  now  assembled 
a  subservient  council  to  ratify  and  confirm  all  he  had  done. 
But  with  this  success  he  had  become  arrogant,  implacable 
and  cruel.  His  friends  had  become  alienated  and  his  enemies 
exasperated.  Even  the  most  rigorous  Catholics  were  alarmed 
at  his  assumptions,  and  the  pope  was  humiliated  by  his 
haughty  bearing. 

Charles  assembled  a  diet  of  the  States  of  the  empire  at 
Augsburg,  the  26th  of  July,  1660.  He  entered  the  city  with 
the  pomp  and  the  pride  of  a  conqueror,  and  with  such  an  array 
of  military  force  as  to  awe  the  States  into  compliance  with  his 
wishes.  He  then  demanded  of  all  the  States  of  the  empire  an 
agreement  that  they  would  enforce  in  all  their  dominions  the 
decrees  of  the  coimcil  of  Trent,  which  council  was  soon  to  be 
convened.  There  is  sublimity  in  the  energy  with  which  this 
monarch  moved,  step  by  step,  toward  the  accomplishment  of 
his  plans.     He  seemed  to  leave  no  chance  for  failure.    The 


OHABLES     V.     AND    THE     KEFORMATION,  131 

members  of  the  diet  were  as  obsequious  as  spaniels  to  theii 
imperious  master,  and  watched  his  countenance  to  leani  when 
they  were  to  say  yes,  and  when  no. 

In  one  thing  only  he  failed.  He  wished  to  have  his  son 
Philip  elected  as  his  successor  on  the  imperial  throne.  His 
brother  Ferdinand  opposed  him  in  this  ambitious  plan,  and 
thus  emboldened  the  diet  to  declare  that  while  the  emperor 
was  Uving  it  was  illegal  to  choose  his  successor,  as  it  tended 
to  render  the  imperial  crown  hereditary.  The  emperor,  saga- 
cious as  he  was  domineering,  waived  the  prosecution  of  hia 
plan  for  the  present,  preparing  to  resume  it  when  he  had  pun- 
ished and  paralyzed  those  who  opposed. 

The  emperor  had  deposed  Frederic  the  Elector  of  Saxony, 
and  placed  over  his  dominons,  Maurice,  a  nephew  of  the  de* 
posed  elector.  Maurice  had  married  a  daughter  of  the  Land- 
grave of  Hesse  Cassel.  He  was  a  man  of  commanding  abili 
ties,  and  as  shrewd,  sagacious  and  ambitious  as  the  emper(Mr 
himself.  He  had  been  strongly  inclined  to  the  Lutheran  doc- 
trines, but  had  been  bought  over  to  espouse  the  cause  oi 
Charles  V.  by  the  brilliant  offer  of  the  territories  of  Saxony. 
Maurice,  as  he  saw  blow  after  blow  falling  upon  his  former 
friends ;  one  prince  after  another  ejected  from  his  estates, 
Protestantism  crushed,  and  finally  his  own  uncle  and  hb  wife's 
lather  led  about  to  grace  the  triumph  of  the  conqueror;  as  he 
saw  the  vast  power  to  which  the  emperor  had  attained,  and 
that  the  hberties  of  the  German  empire  were  in  entire  sub- 
tection  to  his  will,  his  pride  was  wounded,  his  patriotism 
aroused,  and  his  Protestant  sympathies  revived.  Maurice, 
meeting  Charles  V.  on  the  field  of  intrigue,  was  Greek  meet- 
ing Greek. 

Maurice  now  began  with  great  guile  and  profound  sagaol- 
ty  to  plot  against  the  despotic  emperor.  Two  circumstanoei 
essentially  aided  him.  Charles  coveted  the  dukedoms  of  Par- 
ma and  Placentia  in  Italy,  and  the  Duke  Ottavia  had  been  de 
posed.    He  rallied  his  subjects  and  succeeded  in  uniting  Franoe 


132  THK     HOL8B     OF     AUSTRIA. 

on  liis  side,  for  Henry  II,  was  alarmed  at  the  encroachments 
the  emperor  was  making  in  Italy.  A  very  fierce  war  instantly 
blazed  forth,  the  Duke  of  Parma  and  Henry  II.  on  one  side, 
the  pope  and  the  emperor  on  the  other.  At  the  same  time 
the  Turks,  under  the  leadership  of  the  Sultan  Solyman  him- 
self, were  organizing  a  formidable  force  for  the  invasion  of 
Hungary,  which  invasion  would  require  all  the  energies  ol 
Ferdinand,  with  all  the  forces  he  could  raise  in  Austria,  Hun- 
gary and  Bohemia  to  repel. 

Next  to  Hungary  and  Bohemia,  Saxony  was  perhaps  the 
most  powerful  State  of  the  Germanic  confederacy.  The  em- 
peror placed  full  reliance  upon  Maurice,  and  the  Protestants 
in  their  despair  would  have  thought  of  him  as  the  very  last  to 
come  to  their  aid  ;  for  he  had  marched  vigorously  in  the  arm- 
ies of  the  emperor  to  crush  the  Protestants,  and  was  occupy- 
ing the  territories  of  their  most  able  and  steadfast  friend.  Se- 
cretly, Maurice  made  proposals  to  all  the  leading  Protestant 
princes  of  the  empire,  and  having  made  every  thing  ready  for 
an  outbreak,  he  entered  into  a  treaty  with  the  King  of  France, 
who  promised  large  subsidies  and  an  efficient  military  force, 

Maui'ice  conducted  these  intrigues  with  such  consummate 
skill  that  the  emperor  had  not  the  slightest  suspicion  of  the 
storm  which  was  gathei'ing.  Every  thing  being  matured,  ear- 
ly in  April,  1552,  Maurice  suddenly  appeared  before  the  gates 
of  Augsburg  with  an  army  of  twenty-five  thousand  men.  At 
the  same  time  he  issued  a  declaration  that  he  had  taken  up 
arms  to  prevent  the  destruction  of  the  Protestant  religion,  to 
defend  the  liberties  of  Germany  which  the  emperor  had  in- 
fringed, and  to  rescue  his  relatives  from  their  long  and  unjust 
imprisonment.  The  King  of  France  and  other  princes  issued 
similar  declarations.  The  smothered  disaffection  with  the  em 
peror  instantly  blazed  forth  all  over  the  German  empire.  The 
cause  of  Maurice  was  extremely  popular.  The  Protestants  in 
a  mass,  and  many  others,  flocked  to  his  standard.  As  by  magic 
and  in  a  day,  all  was  changed.     The  imperial  towns  Augsburg 


CHARLES     V.     AND    THE     REFORirATION.       188 

Nuremberg  and  others,  threw  open  their  gates  joyfiilly  to 
Maurice.  Whole  provinces  rushed  to  his  standard.  He  was 
everywhere  received  as  the  guardian  of  civil  and  religious 
liberty.  The  ejected  Protestant  rulers  and  magistrates  were 
reinstated,  the  Protestant  churches  opened,  the  Protestant 
preachers  restored.  In  one  month  the  Protestant  party  wa« 
predominant  in  the  German  empire,  and  the  Catholic  party 
either  neutral  or  secretly  favoring  one  who  was  humbling  that 
haughty  emperor  whom  even  the  Catholics  had  begun  to  fear. 
The  prelates  who  were  assembling  at  Trent,  alarmed  by  so 
sudden  and  astounding  a  revolution,  dissolved  the  assembly 
asd  hastened  to  their  homes. 

The  emperor  was  at  Innspruck  seated  in  his  arm  chair,  with 
his  limbs  bandaged  in  flannel,  enfeebled  and  suffering  from  a 
severe  attack  of  the  gout,  when  the  intelligence  of  this  sud- 
den and  overwhelming  reverse  reached  him.  He  was  aston- 
ished and  utterly  confounded.  In  weakness  and  pain,  unable 
to  leave  his  couch,  with  his  .treasury  exhausted,  his  aimies 
widely  scattered,  and  so  pressed  by  their  foes  that  they  could 
not  be  concentrated  from  their  wide  dispersion,  there  was 
nothing  left  for  him  but  to  endeavor  to  beguile  Maurice  into 
a  truce.  But  Maurice  was  as  much  at  home  in  all  the  ai*ts  of 
cunning  as  the  emperor,  and  instead  of  being  beguiled,  con- 
trived to  entrap  his  antagonist.  This  was  a  new  and  a  very 
salutary  experience  for  Charles.  It  is  a  very  novel  sensation 
for  a  successful  rogue  to  be  the  dupe  of  roguery. 

Maurice  pressed  on,  his  army  gathering  force  at  every  step. 
He  entered  the  Tyrol,  swept  through  all  its  valleys,  took  pos- 
session of  all  its  castles  and  its  sublime  fastnesses,  and  the  blasts 
of  his  bugles  reverberated  among  the  clifts  of  the  Alps,  ever 
sounding  the  charge  and  announcing  victory,  never  signaling 
a  defeat.  The  emperor  was  reduced  to  the  terrible  humilia- 
tion of  saving  himself  from  capture  only  by  flight.  The  em- 
peror could  hardly  credit  his  senses  when  told  that  his  coti* 
qn0>ing  toes  were  within  two  days'   march  of  Innspruck,  and 


184  THE    HOTTSIE    OP    ATT8TEIA. 

that  a  squadron  of  horse  might  at  any  hour  appear  ai-d  cut  off 
his  retreat.  It  was  in  the  night  when  these  appalling  tidings 
were  brought  to  him.  The  tortures  of  the  gout  would  not 
allow  him  to  mount  on  horseback,  neither  could  he  bear  the 
jolting  in  a  carriage  over  the  rough  roads.  It  was  a  dark  and 
stornay  night,  the  20th  of  May,  1552.  The  rain  fell  in  tor- 
rents, and  the  wind  howled  through  the  fir-trees  and  around 
the  cra^  of  the  Alps.  Some  attendants  wrapped  the  monarch 
in  blankets,  took  him  out  into  the  court* yard  of  the  palace, 
and  placed  him  in  a  litter.  Attendants  led  the  way  with  lan- 
terns, and  thus,  through  the  inundated  and  storm-swept  defiles 
of  the  mountains,  they  fled  with  their  helpless  sovereign 
through  the  long  hours  of  the  tempestuous  night,  not  daring 
to  stop  one  moment  lest  they  should  hear  behind  them  the 
clatter  of  the  iron  hoofs  of  their  pursuers.  What  a  change 
for  one  short  month  to  produce !  What  a  comment  upon 
earthly  grandeur !  It  is  well  for  man  in  the  hour  of  most 
exultant  prosperity  to  be  humble.  He  knows  not  how  soon 
he  may  fall.  Instructive  indeed  is  the  apostrophe  of  Cardinal 
Wolsey,  illustrated  as  the  truth  he  utters  is  by  almost  every 
page  of  history : 

"  This  is  the  state  of  man  ;  to-day  he  puts  forth 
The  tender  leaves  of  hope,  to-morrow  blossoma, 
The  third  day  comes  a  frost,  a  killing  frost  ; 
And  when  he  thiniis,  good  easy  man,  fiill  surely 
His  greatness  is  a  ripening — nips  his  root, 
And  then  he  falls  as  I  do." 

The  fugitive  emperor  did  not  venture  to  stop  for  refresh- 
ment or  repose  until  he  had  reached  the  strong  town  of  Vil- 
lach  in  Carinthia,  nearly  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  west  of 
Innspruck.  The  troops  of  Maurice  soon  entered  the  city 
which  the  emperor  had  abandoned,  and  the  imperial  palace 
was  surrendered  to  pillage.  Heroic  courage,  indomitable  per- 
severance always  commands  respect.  These  are  great  and 
noble  qualities,  though  they  may  be  exerted  in  a  bad  cause 


OHABLBS    V.     ANT>     THE    REFORMATION.  138 

The  will  of  Charles  was  unconquerable.  In  these  hours  of 
disaster,  tortured  with  pain,  driven  fi*om  his  palace,  deserted 
by  his  allies,  impoverished,  and  borne  upon  his  litter  in  hu 
miliating  flight  before  his  foes,  he  was  just  as  determined  to 
enforce  his  plans  as  in  the  most  brilliant  hour  of  victory. 

He  sent  his  brother  Ferdinand  and  other  ambassadors  tc 
Passau  to  meet  Maurice,  and  mediate  for  a  settlement  of  the 
difficulties.  Maurice  now  had  no  need  of  diplomacy.  His  de- 
mands were  simple  and  reasonable.  They  were,  that  the  em. 
peror  should  liberate  his  father-in-law  from  captivity,  tolerate 
the  Protestant  religion,  and  grant  to  the  German  States  their 
accustomed  liberty.  But  the  emperor  would  not  yield  a  sin- 
gle point.  Though  his  brother  Ferdinand  urged  him  to  yield, 
though  his  Catholic  ambassadors  intreated  him  to  yield,  though 
they  declared  that  if  he  did  not  they  should  be  compelled  to 
abandon  his  cause  and  make  the  best  terms  for  themselvei 
with  the  conqueror  that  they  could,  still  nothing  could  bend 
his  inflexible  ^vill,  and  the  armies,  after  the  lull  of  a  few  days, 
were  again  in  motion.  The  despotism  of  the  emperor  we  ab- 
hor ;  but  his  indomitable  perseverance  and  unconquerable  en- 
ergy are  worthy  of  all  admiration  and  imitation.  HaiJ  ttey 
but  been  exerted  in  a  good  cause ! 


CHAPTER    IX. 

OHABLES    V.     AND    THE    TtJRKISH    WARS. 

From  1552  to  1555. 

Thb  Treaty  of    Passau. — The  Empbkor  tiklds. — His  ooNTiNtntD  Reversks. — Ths 

TOLRRATION  COMPROMISE. — MuTCAL  DISSATISFACTION. — BeMAREABLE  DbSPONDENOT 

or  THE  Empeeor  Charles. — His  Address  to  the  Convention  at  Brussels. — The 
Convent  of  St.  Justus. — Charles  returns  to  Spain. — His  Convent  Life. — The 
MOCK  Burial. — His  Death. — His  Traits  of  Character. — The  King's  Compliment 
TO  Titian. — The  Condition  of  Austria. — Rapid  Advance  of  the  Turks. — Rea- 
sons foe  the  Inaction  or  the  Christians. — The  Sultan's  Method  of  overoomino 
Difficulties. — The  little  Fortress  of  Guntz. — What  it  accomplished. 

THE  Turks,  animated  by  this  civil  war  which  was  raging  in 
Germany,  were  pressing  their  march  upon  Hungary  with 
great  vigor,  and  the  troops  of  Ferdinand  were  retiring  dis- 
comfited before  the  invader.  Henry  of  France  and  the  Duke 
of  Parma  were  also  achieving  victories  in  Italy  endangering 
the  wliole  power  of  the  emperor  over  those  States.  Ferdi- 
nand, appalled  by  the  prospect  of  the  loss  of  Hungary,  im- 
ploringly besought  the  emperor  to  listen  to  terms  of  recon- 
ciliation. The  Catholic  princes,  terrified  in- view  of  the  progress 
of  the  infidel,  foreseeing  the  entire  subjection  of  Europe  to 
the  arms  of  the  Moslem  unless  Christendom  could  combine  in 
self-defense,  joined  their  voices  with  that  of  Ferdinand  so  ear- 
nestly and  in  such  impassioned  tones,  that  the  emperor  finally, 
though  very  reluctantly,  gave  his  assent  to  the  celebrated 
treaty  of  Passau,  on  the'2d  of  August,  1552.  By  this  pacifica- 
tion the  captives  were  released,  freedom  of  conscience  and  of 
worship  was  established,  and  the  Protestant  troops,  being  dis- 
banded, were  at  liberty  to  enter  into  the  service  of  Ferdinand 
to  repel  the  Turks.     Within  six  months  a  diet  was  to  be  as 


CHARLES     V.     AND     THE     TURKISH     WARS.       137 

serubled  to  attempt  an  amicable  adjustment  of  all  civil  and  re- 
ligious difficulties. 

The  intrepid  Maurice  immediately  marched,  accompanied 
by  many  of  the  Protestant  princes,  and  at  the  head  of  a  pow- 
erful army,  to  repel  the  Mohammedan  armies.  Charles,  re- 
lieved from  his  German  troubles,  gathered  his  strength  to 
wreak  revenge  upon  the  King  of  France.  But  fortune  seemed 
to  have  deserted  him.  Defeat  and  disgrace  accompanied  his 
march.  Having  penetrated  the  French  province  of  Lorraine, 
he  laid  siege  to  Metz.  After  losing  thirty  thousand  men  be- 
neath its  walls,  he  was  compelled,  in  the  depth  of  winter,  to 
raise  the  siege  and  retreat.  His  armies  were  everywhere 
routed  ;  the  Turks  menaced  the  shores  of  Italy ;  the  pope  be- 
came his  inveterate  eueray,  and  joined  France  against  him. 
Maurice  was  struck  by  a  bullet,  and  fell  on  the  field  of  battle. 
The  electorate  of  Saxony  passed  into  the  hands  of  Augustus, 
a  brother  of  Maurice,  while  the  former  elector,  Ferdinand,  who 
shortly  after  died,  received  some  slight  indemnification. 

Such  was  the  state  of  affairs  when  the  promised  diet  was 
summoned  at  Passau.  It  met  on  the  5th  of  February,  1555. 
The  emperor  was  confined  with  the  gout  at  Brussels,  and  his 
brother  Ferdinand  presided.  It  was  a  propitious  hour  for 
the  Protestants.  Charles  was  sick,  dejected  and  in  adversity. 
The  better  portion  of  the  Cathohcs  were  disgusted  with  the 
intolerance  of  the  emperor,  intolerance  which  even  the  more 
conscientious  popes  could  not  countenance.  Ferdinand  was 
ftilly  aware  that  he  could  not  defend  his  own  kingdom  of  Hun- 
gary from  the  Turks  without  the  intervention  of  Protestant 
arms.     He  was,  therefore,  warmly  in  favor  of  conciUation. 

The  world  was  not  yet  sufficiently  enlightened  to  compre^ 
hend  the  beauty  of  a  true  toleration,  entire  freedom  of  conscience 
and  of  worship.  After  long  and  very  exciting  debates — after 
being  again  and  again  at  the  point  of  grasping  their  arms 
anew-  -they  finally  agreed  that  the  Protestants  should  enjoy 
the  free  exercise  of  their  religion  wherever  Protestantism  had 


18&  THE      HOUSE     OP     AUSTRIA. 

been  established  and  recognized  by  the  Confession  of  Angs. 
burg.  That  in  all  other  places  Protestant  princes  might  pro- 
hibit  the  Catholic  religion  in  their  States,  and  Catholic  princes 
prohibit  the  Protestant  religion.  But  in  each  case  the  ejected 
party  was  at  liberty  to  sell  their  property  and  move  without 
molestation  to  some  State  where  their  religion  was  dominant. 
In  the  free  cities  of  the  empire,  where  both  religions  were  es- 
tablished, both  were  to  be  tolerated. 

Thus  far,  and  no  further,  had  the  spirit  of  toleration  made 
progress  in  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century. 

Such  was  the  basis  of  the  pacification.  Neither  party  was 
satisfied.  Each  felt  that  it  had  surrendered  far  too  much  to 
the  other ;  and  there  was  subsequently  much  disagreement 
respecting  the  interpretation  of  some  of  the  most  important 
articles.  The  pope,  Paul  IV.,  was  indignant  that  such  tolera- 
tion had  been  granted  to  the  Protestants,  and  threatened  th^ 
emperor  and  his  brother  Ferdinand  of  Austria  with  excommu- 
nication if  they  did  not  declare  these  decrees  null  and  void 
throughout  their  dominions.  At  the  same  time  he  entered 
into  correspond'; nee  with  Henry  II.  of  France  to  form  a  new 
holy  league  for  the  defense  of  the  papal  church  against  the 
inroads  of  heresy. 

And  now  occurred  one  of  the  most  extraordinary  event? 
which  history  has  recorded.  Charles  V.,  who  had  been  thi 
most  enterprising  and  ambitious  prince  in  Europe,  and  th« 
most  insatiable  in  his  thirst  for  power,  became  the  victim  of 
the  most  extreme  despondency.  Harassed  by  the  perplexities 
which  pressed  in  upon  him  from  his  widely-extended  realms, 
annoyed  by  the  undutiful  and  haughty  conduct  of  his  son,  who 
was  endeavoring  to  wrest  authority  from  his  father  by  taking 
advantage  of  all  his  misfortunes,  and  perhaps  inheriting  a  mel- 
ancholy temperament  from  his  mother,  who  died  in  the  glooms 
of  insanity,  and,  more  than  all,  mortified  and  wounded  by  so 
sudden  and  so  vast  a  reverse  of  fortune,  in  which  all  his  plans 
seemed  to  have  failed — thus  oppressed,  humbled,  despondent 


CHARLES     v.     AND     THE     TURKISH      WARS.       139 

he  retired  iu  disgust  to  his  room,  indulged  in  the  most  fretful 
temper,  admitted  none  but  his  sister  and  a  few  contideutia] 
servants  to  his  presence,  and  so  entirely  neglected  all  business 
as  to  pass  nine  months  without  signing  a  single  paper. 

While  the  emperor  was  in  this  melancholy  state,  his  insane 
mother,  who  had  hngered  for  years  in  delirious  gloom,  died  on 
the  4th  of  April,  1555.  It  will  be  remembered  that  Charles 
had  inheiited  valuable  estates  in  the  Low  Countries  from  his 
marriage  with  the  daughter  of  the  Duke  of  Burgundy.  Hav- 
ing resolved  to  abdicate  all  his  power  and  titles  in  favor  of  his 
son,  he  convened  the  States  of  the  Low  Countries  at  Brussels 
on  the  25th  of  October,  1555.  Charles  was  then  but  fifty-five 
years  of  age,  and  should  have  been  in  the  strength  of  vigorous 
manhood.  But  he  was  prematurely  old,  woni  down  with  care, 
toil  and  disappointment.  He  attended  the  assembly  accom- 
panied by  his  son  Philip.  Tottering  beneath  infirmities,  he 
leaned  upon  the  shoulders  of  a  friend  for  support,  and  ad- 
dressed the  assembly  in  a  long  and  somewhat  boastful  speech, 
enumerating  all  the  acts  of  his  administration,  his  endeavors, 
his  long  and  weary  joui-neys,  his  sleepless  care,  his  wars,  and, 
above  all,  his  victoiies.     In  conclusion  he  said : 

"  While  my  health  enabled  me  to  perform  my  duty,  I 
cheerfully  bore  the  burden  ;  but  as  my  constitution  is  now 
broken  by  an  incurable  distemper,  and  my  infirmities  admonish 
me  to  retire,  the  happiness  of  my  people  affects  me  more  than 
the  ambition  of  reigning.  Instead  of  a  decrepid  old  man,  tot- 
tering on  the  brink  of  the  grave,  I  transfer  your  allegiance  to 
a  sovereign  in  the  prime  of  life,  vigilant,  sagacious,  active  and 
enterprising.  With  respect  to  myself,  if  I  have  committed 
any  error  iu  the  course  of  a  long  administration,  forgive  and 
impute  it  to  my  weakness,  not  to  my  intention.  I  shall  ever 
retain  a  grateful  sense  of  your  fidelity  and  attachment,  ana 
your  welfare  shall  be  the  great  object  of  my  prayers  to  Al- 
mighty God,  to  whom  I  now  consecrate  the  remainder  of  m} 
days." 


140  THE     HOUSE    OF     AUSTBIA. 

Then  turning  to  his  son  Philip,  he  said  : 

"  And  you,  my  son,  let  the  grateful  recollection  of  this  day 
redouble  your  care  and  affection  for  your  people.  Other 
sovereigns  may  rejoice  in  having  given  birth  to  their  sons  and 
in  leaving  their  States  to  them  after  their  death.  But  I  an: 
anxious  to  enjoy,  during  my  life,  the  double  satisfaction  of  feel 
ing  that  you  are  indebted  to  me  both  for  your  birth  and 
power.  Few  monarchs  will  follow  my  example,  and  in  the 
lapse  of  ages  I  have  scarcely  found  one  whom  I  myself  would 
imitate.  The  resolution,  therefore,  which  I  have  taken,  and 
which  I  now  carry  into  execution,  will  be  justified  only  by 
your  proving  yourself  worthy  of  it.  And  you  will  alone  ren- 
der yourself  worthy  of  the  extraordinary  confidence  which  I 
now  repose  in  you  by  a  zealous  protection  of  your  religion, 
and  by  maintaining  the  purity  of  the  Catholic  faith,  and  by 
governing  with  justice  and  moderation.  And  may  you,  if  ever 
you  are  desirous  of  retiring  like  myself  to  the  tranquillity  of 
private  life,  enjoy  the  inexpressible  happiness  of  having  such  a 
son,  that  you  may  resign  your  crown  to  him  with  the  same 
satisfaction  as  I  now  deliver  mine  to  you." 

The  emperor  was  here  entirely  overcome  by  emotion,  and 
embracing  Philip,  sank  exhausted  into  his  chair.  The  affecting 
scene  moved  all  the  audience  to  tears.  Soon  after  this,  with 
the  same  formalities  the  emperor  resigned  the  crown  of  Spain 
to  his  son,  reserving  to  himself,  of  all  his  dignities  and  vast 
revenues,  only  a  pension  of  about  twenty  thousand  dollars  a 
year.  For  some  months  he  remained  in  the  Low  Countries, 
and  then  returned  to  Spain  to  seek  an  asylum  in  a  convent 
there. 

When  ill  the  pride  of  his  power  he  once,  while  journeying 
m  Spain,  came  upon  the  convent  of  St.  Justus  in  Estrama- 
dura,  situated  in  a  lovely  vale,  secluded  from  all  the  busti* 
of  life.  The  massive  pile  was  embosomed  among  the  hills; 
forests  spread  widely  around,  and  a  beautiful  rivulet  murmured 
by  its  walls.     As  the  emperor  gazed  upon  the  enchanting  scene 


OHABLKS     V.     AND     THE     TURKISH     WARS.       141 

of  solitude  and  silence  he  exclaimed,  "  Behold  a  lovely  retreat 
for  another  Diocletian  !" 

The  picture  of  the  convent  of  St.  Justus  had  ever  remained 
in  his  mind,  and  perhaps  had  influenced  him,  when  over- 
whelmed with  care,  to  seek  its  peaceful  retirement.  Embark- 
ing  in  a  ship  for  Spain,  he  landed  at  Loredo  on  the  28th  of 
September,  1556.  As  soon  as  his  feet  touched  the  soil  of  his 
native  land  he  prostrated  himself  to  the  earth,  kissed  the 
ground,  and  said, 

"  Naked  came  I  into  the  world,  and  naked  I  return  to 
thee,  thou  common  mother  of  mankind.  To  thee  I  dedicate 
my  body,  as  the  only  return  I  can  make  for  all  the  benefits 
conferred  on  me." 

Then  kneeling,  and  holding  the  crucifix  before  him,  with 
tears  streaming  from  his  eyes,  and  all  unmindful  of  the  at- 
tendants who  were  around,  he  breathed  a  fervent  prayer  of 
gi'atitude  for  the  past,  and  commended  himself  to  God  for  the 
lliture.  By  slow  and  easy  stages,  as  he  was  very  infirm,  he 
journeyed  to  the  vale  of  Estramadura,  near  Placentia,  and 
entered  upon  his  sUent,  monastic  life. 

His  apartments  consisted  of  six  small  cells.  The  stone 
walls  were  whitewashed,  and  the  rooms  furnished  with  the 
utmost  frugality.  Within  the  walls  of  the  convent,  and  com- 
municating with  the  chapel,  there  was  a  small  garden,  which 
the  emperor  had  tastefully  arranged  with  shrubbery  and 
flowers.  Here  Charles  passed  the  brief  remainder  of  his  days. 
lie  amused  himself  with  laboring  in  the  garden  with  his  own 
hands.  He  regularly  attended  worship  in  the  chapel  twice 
every  day,  and  took  part  in  the  service,  manifestly  with  the 
greatest  sincerity  and  devotion. 

The  emperor  had  not  a  cultivated  mind,  and  was  not  tona 
of  either  literary  or  scientific  pursuits.  To  beguile  the  hours 
he  amused  himself  with  tools,  carving  toys  for  children,  and 
ingenious  puppets  and  automata  to  astonish  the  peasants.  For 
a  time  he  was  very  happy  in  his  new  employment.     After  sc 


142  THB    HOUSB    OF    AUSTRIA. 

Btonny  a  life,  the  perfect  repose  and  freedom  from  care  wh'ich 
he  enjoyed  in  the  convent,  seemed  to  him  the  perfection  of 
bliss.  But  soon  the  novelty  wore  away,  and  his  constitutional 
despondency  returned  with  accumulated  power. 

His  dejection  now  assumed  the  form  of  religious  melan- 
choly. He  began  to  devote  every  moment  of  his  lime  to  de* 
votional  reading  and  prayer,  esteeming  all  amusements  and 
all  employments  sinful  which  interfered  with  his  spiritual  ex- 
ercises. He  expressed  to  the  Bishop  of  Toledo  his  determina- 
tion to  devote,  for  the  rest  of  his  days,  every  moment  to  the 
service  of  God.  With  the  utmost  scrupulousness  he  carried 
out  this  plan.  He  practiced  rigid  fasts,  and  conformed  to  all 
the  austerity  of  convent  discipline.  He  renounced  his  pen- 
sion, and  sitting  at  the  abstemious  table  with  the  monks,  de- 
clined seeing  any  other  company  than  that  of  the  world- 
renouncing  priests  and  friars  around  him.  He  scourged  him- 
self with  the  most  cruel  severity,  till  his  back  was  lacerated 
with  the  whip.  He  whole  soul  seemed  to  crave  suffering,  in 
expiation  for  his  sins.  His  ingenuity  was  tasked  to  devise 
new  methods  of  mortification  and  humiliation.  Ambition  had 
ever  been  the  ruling  passion  of  his  soul,  and  now  he  was  am- 
bitious to  suffer  more,  and  to  abuse  himself  more  than  any 
other  mortal  had  ever  done. 

Goaded  by  this  impulse,  he  at  last  devised  the  scheme  of 
solemnizing  his  own  funeral.  All  the  melancholy  arrange- 
ments for  his  burial  were  made ;  the  coffin  provided  ;  the  em- 
peror reclined  upon  his  bed  as  dead  ;  he  was  wrapped  in  his 
shroud,  and  placed  in  his  coffin.  The  monks,  and  all  the  in- 
mates of  the  convent  attended  in  mourning  ;  the  bells  tolled ; 
requiems  were  chanted  by  the  choir  ;  the  funeral  service  was 
read,  and  then  the  emperor,  as  if  dead,  was  placed  in  the 
tomb  of  the  chapel,  and  the  congregation  retired.  The  mon« 
arch,  afler  remaining  some  time  in  his  coffin  to  impress  him- 
self with  the  sense  of  what  it  is  to  die,  and  be  buried,  rose 
fi-om  his  tomb,  kneeled  before  the  altar  for  some  time  :n  wor 


0HABLE8     V.     AND    THE    TUEKI8H    WAE8.  143 

ship,  and  then  returned  to  his  cell  to  pass  the  night  in  deep 
meditation  and  prayer. 

The  shock  and  the  chill  of  this  solemn  scene  were  too 
much  for  the  old  monarch's  feeble  frame  and  weakened  mind. 
He  was  seized  with  a  fever,  and  in  a  few  days  breathed  his 
last,  in  the  59th  year  of  his  age.  He  had  spent  a  little  over 
three  years  in  the  convent.  The  life  of  Charles  V.  was  a  sad 
one.  Through  all  his  days  he  was  consumed  by  unsatisfied 
ambition,  and  he  seldom  enjoyed  an  hour  of  contentment.  To 
his  son  he  said — 

"  I  leave  you  a  heavy  burden ;  for,  since  my  shoulders 
have  borae  it,  I  have  not  passed  one  day  exempt  from  di» 
quietude," 

Indeed  it  would  seem  that  there  could  have  been  but  little 
happiness  for  anybody  in  those  dark  days  of  feudal  oppressioB 
and  of  incessant  wars.  Ambition,  intrigue,  duplicity,  reigned 
over  the  lives  of  princes  and  nobles,  while  the  masses  of  the 
people  were  ever  trampled  down  by  oppressive  lords  and  con- 
tending armies.  Europe  was  a  field  of  fire  and  blood.  The 
oimeter  of  the  Turk  spared  neither  mother,  maiden  nor  babe. 
Cities  and  villages  were  mercilessly  burned,  cottages  set  in 
flames,  fields  of  grain  destroyed,  and  whole  populations  car- 
ried into  slavery,  where  they  miserably  died.  And  the  rav- 
ages of  Christian  warfare,  duke  against  duke,  bai'on  against 
baron,  king  against  king,  were  hardly  less  cruel  and  desolat- 
ing. Balls  from  opposing  batteries  regard  not  the  helpless 
ones  in  their  range.  Charging  squadrons  must  trample  down 
with  iron  hoof  all  who  are  in  their  way.  The  wail  of  misery 
rose  from  every  portion  of  Europe.  The  world  has  surely 
made  some  progress  since  that  day. 

There  was  but  very  little  that  was  loveable  in  the  oharao 
ter  of  Charles,  and  he  seems  to  have  bad  but  very  few  friends. 
So  intense  and  earnest  was  he  in  the  prosecution  of  the  plani 
of  grandeur  which  engrossed  his  soul,  that  he  was  seldom 
known  to  smile.     He  had  many  of  the  attributes  of  screatnesq 


144  THB     HOUSE     OF     AUSTBIA. 

indomitable  energy  and  perseverance,  untiring  industry,  con* 
prehensive  grasp  of  thought  and  capability  of  superintend, 
ing  the  minutest  details.  He  had,  also,  a  certain  fanatic  con- 
scientiousness  about  him,  like  that  which  actuated  Saul  of 
Tarsus,  when,  holding  the  garments  of  those  who  stoned  the 
martyr,  he  "  verily  thought  that  he  was  doing  God  ser- 
vice." 

Many  anecdotes  are  told  illustrative  of  certain  estimable 
traits  in  his  character.  When  a  boy,  like  other  boys,  he  waa 
not  fond  of  study,  and  being  very  self-willed,  he  would  not 
yield  to  the  entreaties  of  his  tutors.  He  consequently  had  but 
an  imperfect  education,  which  may  in  part  account  for  hia 
excessive  illiberality,  and  for  many  of  his  stupendous  follies. 
The  mind,  enlarged  by  liberal  culture,  is  ever  tolerant.  He 
afterwards  regretted  exceedingly  this  neglect  of  his  early 
studies.  At  Genoa,  on  some  public  occasion,  he  was  ad- 
dressed in  a  Latin  oration,  not  one  word  of  which  he  under 
stood. 

"  I  now  feel,"  he  said,  "  the  justice  of  my  preceptor 
Adrian's  remonstrances,  who  frequently  used  to  predict  that 
I  should  be  punished  for  the  thoughtlessnoss  of  my  youth," 

He  was  fond  of  the  society  of  learned  men,  and  treated 
them  with  great  respect.  Some  of  the  nobles  complained 
that  the  emperor  treated  the  celebrated  historian,  Guicciar- 
dini,  with  much  more  respect  than  he  did  them.  He  re- 
plied— 

"  I  can,  by  a  word,  create  a  hundred  nobles ;  but  Goi 
idone  can  create  a  Guicciardini," 

He  greatly  admired  the  genius  of  Titian,  and  considered 
him  one  of  the  most  resplendent  ornaments  of  his  empire. 
He  knew  full  well  that  Titian  would  be  remembered  long 
after  thousands  of  the  proudest  grandees  of  his  empire  had 
sunk  into  oblivion.  He  loved  to  go  into  the  studio  of  the 
illustrious  painter,  and  watch  the  creations  of  beauty  as  they 
rose  beneath  his  pencil.     One  day  Titian  accidentally  droppofll 


I 


OHABLBS    V.     AND    THB    TTJRKISH     WARS.         146 

Lis  brush.  The  emperor  picked  it  up,  and,  presenting  it  to 
the  artist,  said  gracefully — 

"  Titian  is  worthy  of  being  served  by  an  emperor." 

Charles  V.  never,  apparently,  inspired  the  glow  of  affeo 
tion,  or  an  emotion  of  enthusiasm  in  any  bosom.  He  accom- 
plished some  reforms  in  the  German  empire,  and  the  only 
interest  his  name  now  excites  is  the  interest  necessarily  in- 
volved in  the  sublime  drama  of  his  long  and  eventful  reign. 

It  is  now  necessary  to  retrace  our  steps  for  a  few  years, 
that  we  may  note  the  vicissitudes  of  Austria,  while  the  em- 
pire was  passing  through  the  scenes  we  have  narrated. 

Ferdinand  I.,  the  brother  of  Charles  V.,  who  was  left  alone 
m  the  government  of  Austria,  was  the  second  son  of  Philip 
the  Handsome  and  Joanna  of  Spain.  His  birth  was  illustrious, 
the  Emperor  Maximilian  being  his  paternal  grandfather,  and 
Ferdinand  and  Isabella  being  his  grandparents  on  his  mother's 
side.  He  was  bom  in  Spain,  March  10,  1603,  and  received  a 
respectable  education.  His  manners  were  courteous  and  win- 
ning, and  he  was  so  much  more  popular  than  Charles  as  quite 
to  excite  the  jealousy  of  his  imperious  and  imperial  spirit. 
Charles,  upon  attaining  the  throne,  ceded  to  his  brother  the 
Austrian  territories,  which  then  consisted  of  four  small  prov- 
inces, Austria,  Styria,  Carinthia  and  Carniola,  with  the  Tyrol. 

Ferdinand  married  Ann,  princess  of  Hungary  and  Bohemia. 
The  death  of  his  wife's  brother  Louis  made  her  the  heiress  of 
those  two  crowns,  and  thus  secured  to  Ferdinand  the  magni- 
ficent dowry  of  the  kingdoms  of  Hungary  and  Bohemia.  But 
possession  of  the  scepter  of  those  realms  was  by  no  means  a 
ginecure.  The  Turkish  power,  which  had  been  for  many  years 
mcreasing  with  the  most  alarming  rapidity  and  had  now  ac- 
quired appalling  strength,  kept  Hungary,  and  even  the  Aus- 
trian States,  in  constant  and  terrible  alarm. 

The  Turks,  sweeping  over  Persia,  Arabia,  Egypt,  Syria, 
all  Asia  Minor,  crossing  the  straits  and  inundating  Greece^ 
fierce  and  semi-savage,  with  just  civilization  enough  to  organ 


146  THE     HOUSE     OF     AUSTRIA. 

ize  and  guide  with  skill  their  wolf-like  ferocity,  were  now  prea* 
ing  Europe  in  Spain,  in  Italy,  and  were  crowding,  in  wav« 
after  wave  of  invasion,  up  the  valley  of  the  Danube.  They 
had  created  a  navy  which  was  able  to  cope  with  the  most  pow- 
erful fleets  of  Europe,  and  island  after  island  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean was  yielding  to  their  sway. 

In  1520,  Solyman,  called  the  Magnificent,  overran  Bosnia, 
and  advancing  to  the  Danube,  besieged  and  captured  Belgrade, 
which  strong  fortress  was  considered  the  only  reliable  barrier 
against  his  encroachments.  At  the  same  time  his  fleet  took 
possession  of  the  island  of  Rhodes.  After  some  slight  reverses, 
which  the  Turks  considered  mei*ely  embarrassments,  they  re- 
sumed their  aggressions,  and  Solyman,  in  1525,  again  crossing 
the  Danube,  entered  Hungary  with  an  army  of  two  hundred 
thousand  men.  Louis,  who  was  then  King  of  Hungary,  brother 
of  the  wife  of  Ferdinand,  was  able  to  laise  an  army  of  but 
thirty  thousand  to  meet  him.  With  more  courage  than  dis- 
cretion, leading  this  feeble  band,  he  advanced  to  resist  the  foe. 
They  met  on  the  plains  of  Mohatz.  The  Turks  made  short 
work  of  it.  In  a  few  hours,  with  their  cimeters  they  hewed 
down  nearly  the  whole  Christian  army.  The  remnant  escaped 
as  lambs  from  wolves.  The  king,  in  his  heavy  armor,  spui'- 
red  his  horse  into  a  stream  to  cross  in  his  flight.  In  attempt- 
ing to  ascend  the  bank,  the  noble  charger,  who  had  borne  hia 
master  bravely  through  the  flood,  fell  back  upon  his  rider,  and 
the  dead  body  of  the  king  was  afterward  picked  up  by  the 
Turks,  covered  with  the  mud  of  the  morass.  All  Hungary 
would  now  have  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  Turks  had  not 
Solyman  been  recalled  by  a  rebellion  in  one  of  his  own  prov- 
inces. 

It  was  this  event  which  placed  the  crowns  of  Bohemia  and 
Hungary  on  the  brow  of  Ferdinand,  and  by  annexing  those 
two  kingdoms  to  the  Austrian  States,  elevated  Austria  to  be 
one  of  the  first  powers  in  Europe.  Ferdinand,  thus  strength- 
ened sent  ambassadors  to  Constantinople  to  demand  the  restitu 


OHABLBS    V.    AND    THB    TUBKI8H     WAES.        147 

tion  of  Belgrade  and  other  important  towns  which  the  Turks 
still  held  in  Hungary. 

"  Belgrade !"  exclaimed  the  haughty  sultan,  when  he  heard 
the  demand.  "  Go  tell  your  master  that  I  am  collecting  troopa 
and  preparing  for  my  expedition.  I  will  suspend  at  my  neck 
the  keys  of  my  Hungarian  fortresses,  and  will  bring  them  to 
that  plain  of  Mohatz  where  Louis,  by  the  aid  of  Providence, 
found  defeat  and  a  grave.  Let  Ferdinand  meet  and  conquer 
me,  and  take  them,  after  severing  my  head  from  my  body  1 
But  if  I  find  him  not  there,  I  will  seek  him  at  Buda  or  follow 
him  to  Vienna." 

Soon  after  this  Solyman  crossed  the  Danube  with  three 
hundred  thousand  men,  and  advancing  to  Mohatz,  encamped 
for  several  days  upon  the  plain,  with  all  possible  display  oi 
Oriental  pomp  and  magnificence.  Thus  proudly  he  threw 
down  the  gauntlet  of  defiance.  But  there  was  no  champioa 
there  to  take  it  up.  Striking  his  tents,  and  spreading  his  ban- 
ners to  the  breeze,  in  unimpeded  march  he  ascended  the  Dan- 
ube two  hundred  miles  from  Belgrade  to  the  city  of  Pest. 
And  here  his  martial  bands  made  hill  and  vale  reverberate  the 
bugle  blasts  of  victory.  Pest,  the  ancient  capital  of  Hungary, 
rich  in  all  the  wealth  of  those  days,  with  a  population  of  some 
sixty  thousand,  was  situated  on  the  left  bank  of  the  river. 
Upon  the  opposite  shore,  connected  by  a  fine  bridge  three 
quarters  of  a  mile  in  width,  was  the  beautiful  an-d  opulent  city 
of  Buda.  In  possession  of  these  two  maritime  towns,  then 
perhaps  the  most  important  in  Hungary,  the  Turks  rioted  for 
a  few  days  in  luxury  and  all  abominable  outrage  and  indul- 
gence, and  then,  leaving  a  strong  garrison  to  hold  the  for- 
tresses, they  continued  their  march.  Pressing  resistlessly  on- 
ward some  hundred  miles  fiirther,  taking  all  the  towns  by  the 
way,  on  both  sides  of  the  Danube,  they  came  to  the  city  oi 
Raab. 

It  seems  incredible  that  there  could  have  been  such  an  un 
obstructed  march  of  the  Turks,  through  the  very  heart  of 


148  THE     HOUSE     OF     AUSTRIA. 

Hungary.  But  the  Emperor  Charles  V.  was  at  that  time  in 
Italy,  all  engrossed  in  the  fiercest  warfare  there.  Throughout 
the  German  empire  the  Catholics  and  the  Protestants  were 
engaged  in  a  conflict  which  absorbed  all  other  thoughts.  And 
the  Protestants  resolutely  refused  to  assist  in  repelling  the 
Turks  while  the  sword  of  Catholic  vengeance  was  suspended 
over  them.  From  Raab  the  invading  army  advanced  some 
hundred  miles  further  to  the  very  walls  of  Vienna.  Ferdi- 
nand, conscious  of  his  inability  to  meet  the  foe  in  the  open  field, 
was  concentrating  all  his  available  strength  to  defend  his  capital. 

At  Cremnitz  the  Turks  met  with  the  first  serious  show  of 
resistance.  The  fortress  was  strong,  and  the  garrison,  inspired 
by  the  indomitable  energy  and  courage  of  their  commandant, 
Nicholas,  Count  of  Salm,  for  a  month  repelled  every  assault 
of  the  foe.  Day  after  day  and  night  after  night  the  inces- 
sant bombardment  contiimed  ;  the  walls  were  crumbled  by  the 
storm  of  shot ;  column  after  column  of  the  Turks  rushed  to 
the  assault,  but  all  in  vain.  The  sultan,  disappointed  and  en- 
raged, made  one  last  desperate  efibrt,  but  his  strong  columns, 
thinned,  mangled  and  bleeding,  were  compelled  to  retire  in 
utter  discomfiture. 

Winter  was  now  approaching.  Reinforcements  were  also 
hastening  from  Vienna,  from  Bohemia,  and  from  other  parts 
of  the-German  empire.  Solyman,  having  devastated  the  coun- 
try around  him,  and  being  all  unprepared  for  the  storms  oi 
winter,  was  compelled  to  retire.  He  struck  his  tents,  and 
aiowly  and  sullenly  descended  the  Danube,  wreaking  diaboU- 
cal  vengeance  upon  the  helpless  peasants,  killing,  burning  and 
destroying.  Leaving  a  strong  garrison  to  hold  what  remained 
of  Buda  and  Pest,  he  carried  thousands  with  him  into  captiv 
ity,  where,  after  years  of  woe,  they  passed  into  the  grave. 

"  'Tie  terrible  to  rouse  the  lion, 

Dreadiul  to  cross  the  tiger's  path; 
Bat  the  most  terrible  of  terrors, 
Is  man  himself  in  his  wild  wrath." 


CHABLE8     V.     AND     THE     TUBKI3I1      WAR8.       149 

Solyman  spent  two  years  in  making  preparation  for  another 
march  to  Vienna,  resolved  to  wipe  out  the  disgrace  of  his  last 
defeat  by  capturing  all  the  Austrian  States,  and  of  then  spread- 
ing the  terror  of  his  arms  far  and  wide  through  the  empire  ol 
Germany.  The  energy  with  which  he  acted  may  be  inferred 
from  one  well  authenticated  anecdote  illustrative  of  his  char- 
acter. He  had  ordered  a  bridge  to  be  constructed  across  the 
Drave.  The  engineer  who  had  been  sent  to  accomplish  the 
task,  after  a  careful  survey,  reported  that  a  bridge  could  not 
be  constructed  at  that  point.  Solyman  sent  him  a  linen  cord 
with  this  message : 

"  The  sultan,  thy  master,  commands  thee,  without  consid- 
eration of  the  difficulties,  to  complete  the  bridge  over  the 
Drave.  If  thou  doest  it  not,  on  his  arrival  he  will  have  thee 
strangled  with  this  cord." 

With  a  large  army,  thoroughly  drilled,  and  equipped  with 
all  the  enginery  of  war,  the  sultan  commenced  his  campaign. 
His  force  was  so  stupendous  and  so  incumbered  with  the  ne- 
cessary baggage  and  heavy  artillery,  that  it  required  a  march  of 
sixty  days  to  pass  from  Constantinople  to  Belgrade.  Ferdi- 
nand, in  inexpressible  alarm,  sent  ambassadors  to  Solyman, 
hoping  to  avert  the  storm  by  conciliation  and  concessions. 
This  indication  of  weakness  but  increased  the  arrogance  of  the 
Turk. 

He  embarked  his  artillery  on  the  Danube  in  a  flotilla  ot 
three  thousand  vessels.  Then  crossing  the  Save,  which  at 
Belgrade  flows  into  the  Danube,  he  left  the  great  central  river 
of  Europe  on  his  right,  and  marching  almost  due  west  through 
Sclavonia,  approached  the  frontiers  of  Styria,  one  of  the  most 
important  provinces  of  the  Austrian  kingdom,  by  the  shortest 
route.  Still  it  was  a  long  march  of  some  two  hundred  miles 
Among  the  defiles  of  the  Illyrian  mountains,  through  which 
ho  was  compelled  to  pass  in  his  advance  to  Vienna,  he  came 
upon  the  little  fortress  of  Guntz,  garrisoned  only  by  eight  hun- 
dred men.     Solyman  expected  to  sweep  this  slight  annoyance 


160  THE     HOUSE     OP     AU8TEIA. 

away  as  he  would  brush  a  fly  from  his  face.  He  sent  bis  ad 
ranee  guard  to  demolish  the  impudent  obstacle ;  then,  snr 
prised  by  the  resistance,  he  pushed  forward  a  few  more  bat- 
talions ;  then,  enraged  at  the  unexpected  strength  developed 
he  ordered  to  the  attack  what  he  deemed  an  overwhelming 
force ;  and  then,  in  astonishment  and  fury,  impelled  against 
the  fortress  the  combined  strength  of  his  whole  army.  But 
the  little  crag  stood,  Uke  a  rock  opposing  the  flooding  tide. 
The  waves  of  war  rolled  on  and  dashed  against  impenetrable 
and  immovable  granite,  and  were  scattered  back  in  bloody 
spray.  The  fortress  commanded  the  pass,  and  swept  it  clean 
with  an  unintermitted  storm  of  shot  and  balls.  For  twenty- 
eight  days  the  fortress  resisted  the  whole  force  of  the  Turk- 
ish army,  and  prevented  it  from  advancing  a  mile.  This 
check  gave  the  terrified  inhabitants  of  Vienna,  and  of  the  sur- 
rounding region,  time  to  unite  for  the  defense  of  the  capitaL 
The  Protestants  and  the  Catholics  having  settled  their  diffi- 
culties by  the  pacification  of  Ratisbon,  as  we  have  before  nar- 
rated, combined  all  their  energies  ;  the  pope  sent  his  choicest 
troops ;  all  the  ardent  young  men  of  the  German  empire, 
from  the  ocean  to  the  Alps,  rushed  to  the  banners  of  the  cross, 
and  one  hundred  and  thirty  thousand  men,  including  thirty 
thousand  mounted  horsemen,  were  speedily  gathered  within 
and  around  the  walls  of  Vienna. 

Thus  thwarted  in  his  plans,  Solyman  found  himself  com- 
pelled to  retreat  ingloi'iously,  by  the  same  path  through  which 
he  had  advanced.  Thus  Christendom  was  relieved  of  this  ter* 
rible  menace.  Though  the  Turks  were  still  in  possession  ol 
Hungary,  the  allied  troops  of  the  empire  strangely  dispersed 
without  attempting  to  regain  the  kingdom  from  their  domio* 
tion. 


CHAPTER    X. 

i'BBDINAND    I.— HIS    WARS    AND    INTRIGUES 
From  1655  to  1662. 

toBK  or  Tapoli.— Thk  Instability  of  Compacts.— Thb  Sultan's  Demandb.— A 
Kbisn  of  War.— P0WKR8  and  Doties  of  the  Monabohs  of  Bohemia.— Thi 
DiBT. — The  King's  Dbsieb  to  oeubh  Protestantism. — The  Entbanoe  to 
Pbaoue. — Terror  of  the  Inhabitants.— The  Kuno's  Conditions. — The  bloodt 

Diet. Disoiplinabt  Measures. — The  establishment  of  the  Order  of  Jesuits.— 

Abdication  of  Charles  V.  in  favor  of  Ferdinand— Power  of  thk  Pope.— 
Paul  IV.— A  quiet  but  powerful  Blow. — The  Peosbess  of  the  Reformers. 
Attrmpts  to  bboonoilb  the  Protestants. — Thb  u.vsuooessful  Assembly. 

DURING  all  the  wars  with  the  Turks,  a  Transylvanian 
count,  John  of  Tapoli,  was  disputing  Ferdinand's  right 
to  the  throne  of  Hungary  and  claiming  it  for  himself.  He 
even  entered  into  negotiations  with  the  Turks,  and  cooper- 
ated with  Solyman  in  his  invasion  of  Hungary,  having  the 
promise  of  the  sultan  that  he  should  be  appointed  king  of  the 
realm  as  soon  as  it  was  brought  in  subjection  to  Turkey.  The 
Turks  had  now  possession  of  Hungary,  and  the  sultan  invested 
John  of  Tapoli  with  the  sovereignty  of  the  kingdom,  in  the 
presence  of  a  brilliant  assemblage  of  the  officers  of  his  army 
and  of  the  Hungarian  nobles. 

The  last  discomfiture  and  retreat  of  Solyman  encouraged 
Ferdinand  to  redoubled  exertions  to  reconquer  Hungary  from 
the  combined  forces  of  the  Turks  and  his  Transylvanian  rival. 
Several  years  passed  away  in  desultory,  indecisive  warfare, 
while  John  held  his  throne  as  tributary  king  to  the  sultan. 
At  last  Ferdinand,  finding  that  he  could  not  resist  their  united 
•trength,  and  John  becoming  annoyed  by  the  exactions  of  hia 
Turkish  master,  they  agreed  to  a  compromise,  by  which  John, 
who  was  aged,  childless  and  infirm,  was  to  remain  king  of  ali 


l52  THE      HOUSE     OF     AUSTRIA. 

that  part  of  Hungary  which  he  held  until  he  died ;  and  tht 
whole  kingdom  was  then  to  revert  to  Ferdinand  and  his  heirs. 
But  it  was  agreed  that  shouid  John  marry  and  have  a  son,  that 
son  should  be  viceroy,  or,  as  the  title  then  was,  univode,  of  his 
father's  hereditary  domain  of  Transylvania^  having  no  control 
over  any  portion  of  Hungary  proper. 

Somewhat  to  the  disappointment  of  Ferdinand,  the  old 
monarch  immediately  married  a  young  bride.  A  son  was 
born  to  them,  and  in  fourteen  days  after  his  birth  the  father 
died  of  a  stroke  of  apoplexy.  The  child  was  entitled  to  the 
viceroyship  of  Transylvania,  while  all  the  rest  of  Hungary  was 
to  pass  unincumbered  to  Ferdinand.  But  Isabella,  the  ambi- 
tious young  mother,  who  had  married  the  decrepit  monarch 
that  she  might  enjoy  wealth  and  station,  had  no  intention  that 
her  babe  should  be  less  of  a  king  than  his  father  was.  She 
was  the  daughter  of  Sigisraond,  King  of  Poland,  and  relying 
upon  the  support  of  her  regal  father  she  claimed  the  crown  of 
Hungary  for  her  boy,  in  defiance  of  the  solemn  compact.  In 
that  age  of  chivalry  a  young  and  beautiful  woman  could  eas- 
ily find  defenders  whatever  might  be  her  claims.  Isabella  soon 
rallied  around  her  banner  many  Hungarian  nobles,  and  a  large 
number  of  adventurous  knights  from  Poland. 

Under  her  influence  a  large  party  of  nobles  met,  chose  the 
babe  their  king,  and  crowned  him,  under  the  name  of  Stephen, 
with  a  great  display  of  military  and  religious  pomp.  They 
then  conveyed  him  and  his  mother  to  the  strong  castle  of 
Buda  and  dispatched  an  embassy  to  the  sultan  at  Constanti- 
nople, avowing  homage  to  him,  as  their  feudal  lord,  and  im- 
ploring his  immediate  and  vigorous  support. 

Ferdinand,  thus  defrauded,  and  conscious  of  his  inability  to 
rescue  the  crown  from  the  united  forces  of  the  Hungarian 
partisans  of  Stephen,  and  from  the  Turks,  condescended  also  t« 
send  a  message  to  the  sultan,  offering  to  hold  the  crown  as  his 
fief  and  to  pay  to  the  Porte  the  same  tribute  which  John  had 
paid,  if  the  sultan  would  support  his  claim.     The  imperiout 


I 


FJEBDINAND    I. HIS    WARS    AND    INTRIGUES.    153 

Turk,  knowing  that  he  could  depose  the  baby  king  at  his  pleas- 
ure, insultingly  rejected  the  proposals  which  Ferdinand  had 
humiliated  himself  in  advancing.  He  returned  in  answer,  that 
he  demanded,  as  the  price  of  peace,  not  only  that  Ferdinand 
should  renounce  all  claim  whatever  to  the  crown  of  Hungary, 
but  that  he  should  also  acknowledge  the  Austrian  territories 
as  under  vassalage  to  the  Turkish  empire,  and  pay  tribute  ac- 
cordingly. 

Ferdinand,  at  the  same  time  that  he  sent  his  embassy  tc 
Constantinople,  without  waiting  for  a  reply  dispatched  an  army 
into  Hungaiy,  which  reached  Buda  and  besieged  Isabella  and 
her  son  in  the  citadel. 

He  pressed  the  siege  with  such  vigor  that  Isabella  must 
have  surrendered  had  not  an  army  of  Turks  come  to  her  res- 
cue. The.Austrian  troops  were  defeated  and  dispersed.  The 
sultan  himself  soon  followed  with  a  still  larger  army,  took  pos- 
session of  the  city,  secured  the  person  of  the  queen  and  the 
mfant  prince,  and  placed  a  garrison  often  thousand  janissaries 
in  the  citadel.  The  Turkish  troops  spread  in  all  directions, 
establishing  themselves  in  towns,  castles,  fortresses,  and  set- 
ting at  defiance  all  Ferdinand's  efforts  to  dislodge  them.  These 
events  occuired  during  the  reign  of  the  Emperor  Charles  V. 
The  resources  of  Ferdinand  had  become  so  exhausted  that  he 
was  compelled,  while  affairs  were  in  this  state,  in  the  year 
1545,  ten  years  before  the  abdication  of  the  emperor,  to  im- 
plore of  Solyman  a  suspension  of  arms. 

The  haughty  sultan  reluctantly  consented  to  a  truce  of 
five  years  upon  condition  that  Ferdinand  would  pay  him  an 
annua^  tribute  of  about  sixty  thousand  dollars,  and  become 
feudatory  of  the  Porte.  To  these  humiliating  conditions  Fer- 
dinand felt  compelled  to  assent.  Solyman,  thus  relieved  fi-om 
any  trouble  on  the  part  of  Ferdinand,  compelled  the  queen  to 
renounce  to  himself  all  right  which  either  she  or  her  son  had 
to  the  throne.  And  now  for  many  years  we  have  nothing  but 
a  weary  record  of  intrigues,  assassmations,  wars  and  woes 


164  THE     HOUSE     OP     AUSTRIA. 

Miserable  Hungary  was  but  a  field  of  blood.  There  were 
three  parties,  Ferdinand,  Stephen  and  Solyman,  all  alike  ready 
to  be  guilty  of  any  inhumanity  or  to  perpetrate  any  perfidy  in 
the  accomplishment  of  their  plans.  Ferdinand  with  his  armies 
held  one  portion  of  Hungary,  Solyman  another,  and  Stephen, 
with  his  strong  partisans  another.  Bombardment  succeeded 
bombardment ;  cities  and  provinces  were  now  overrun  by  one 
set  of  troops  and  now  by  another  ;  the  billows  of  war  surged 
to  and  fro  incessantly,  and  the  wail  of  the  widow  and  the  cry 
of  the  orphan  ascended  by  day  and  by  night  to  the  ear  of 
God. 

In  1556  the  Turks  again  invested  Stephen  with  the  gov- 
ernment of  that  large  portion  of  Hungary  which  they  held, 
including  Transylvania.  Ferdinand  still  was  in  possession  of 
several  important  fortresses,  and  of  several  of  the  western  dis- 
tricts of  Hungary  bordering  on  the  Austrian  States,  Isabella, 
annoyed  by  her  subjection  to  the  Turks,  made  propositions  to 
Ferdinand  for  a  reconciliation,  and  a  truce  was  agreed  upon 
which  gave  the  land  rest  for  a  few  years. 

While  these  storms  were  sweeping  over  Hungary,  events 
of  scarcely  less  importance  were  transpiring  in  Bohemia.  This 
kingdom  was  an  elective  monarchy,  and  usually  upon  the  death 
of  a  king  the  fiercest  sti-ife  ensued  as  to  who  should  be  his  suc- 
cessor. The  elected  monarch,  on  receiving  the  crown,  was 
obliged  to  recognize  the  sovereignty  of  the  people  as  having 
chosen  him  for  their  ruler,  and  he  promised  to  govera  accord- 
ing to  the  ancient  constitution  of  the  kingdom.  The  monarch, 
however,  generally  found  no  difficulty  in  surrounding  himself 
with  such  strong  supporters  as  to  secure  the  election  of  his 
eon  or  heir,  and  frequently  he  had  his  successor  chosen  before 
his  death.  Thus  the  monarchy,  though  nominally  elective,  was 
m  its  practical  operation  essentially  hereditary. 

The  authority  of  the  orown  was  quite  limited.  The  mon- 
arch was  only  intrusted  with  so  much  power  as  the  proud 
nobles  were  willing  to  surrender  to  one  of  their  number  whom 


r'KRDlNAND    I. HIS    WARS     AND    INTBIGUBS.       155 

they  appointed  chief,  whose  superiority  they  reluctantly  ao. 
knowledged,  and  against  whom  they  were  very  frequently  in- 
volved in  wars.  In  those  days  the  people  had  hardly  a  recog- 
nized existence.  The  nobles  met  in  a  congress  called  a  diet, 
and  authorized  their  elected  chief,  the  king,  to  impose  taxes, 
raise  troops,  declare  war  and  institute  laws  according  to  their 
will.  These  diets  were  diffisrently  composed  'mder  different 
reigns,  and  privileged  cities  were  sometimes  authoiized  to  send 
deputies  whom  they  selected  from  the  most  illustrious  of  their 
citizens.  The  king  usually  convoked  the  diets ;  but  in  those 
stormy  times  of  feuds,  conspiracies  and  wars,  there  was  hardly 
any  general  rule.  The  nobles,  displeased  at  some  act  of  the 
king,  would  themselves,  through  some  one  or  more  of  their 
number,  summon  a  diet  and  organize  resistance.  The  num- 
bers attending  such  an  iiTegular  body  were  of  course  very  va- 
rious. There  appear  to  have  been  diets  of  the  empire  com- 
posed of  not  move  than  half  a  dozen  individuals,  and  others 
where  as  many  hundreds  were  assembled.  Sometimes  the 
meetings  were  peaceful,  and  again  tumultuous  with  the  clash- 
ing of  arms. 

In  Bohemia  the  conflict  between  the  Catholics  and  the  re- 
foi-mers  had  raged  with  peculiar  aciimony,  and  the  reformers 
in  that  kingdom  had  become  a  very  numerous  and  influential 
body.  Ferdinand  was  anxious  to  check  the  progress  of  the 
Reformation,  and  he  exerted  all  the  power  he  could  command 
to  defend  and  maintain  Catholic  supremacy.  For  ten  years 
Ferdinand  was  absent  from  Bohemia,  all  his  energies  being 
absorbed  by  the  Hungarian  war.  He  was  anxious  to  weaken 
the  power  of  the  nobles  in  Bohemia.  There  was  ever,  in  those 
days,  either  an  open  or  a  smothered  conflict  between  the  king 
and  the  nobles,  the  monarch  striving  to  grasp  more  power, 
the  nobles  striving  to  keep  him  in  subjection  to  them.  Ferdi- 
nand attempted  to  disarm  the  nobles  by  sending  for  all  the 
artillery  of  the  kingdom,  professing  that  he  needed  it  to  carry 
on  his  war  with  the  Turks.     But  the  wary  nobles  held  on  to 


166  THB     HOUSE     OP     AUSTRIA. 

their  artillery.  He  then  was  guilty  of  the  folly  of  hunting  up 
some  old  exploded  compacts,  in  virtue  of  whicb  he  declared 
that  Bohemia  was  not  an  elective  but  a  hereditary  monarchy^ 
and  that  he,  as  hereditary  sovereign,  held  the  throne  for  him 
self  and  his  heirs. 

This  announcement  spread  a  flame  of  indignation  through 
all  the  castles  of  Bohemia.  The  nobles  rallied,  called  a  diet, 
passed  strong  resolutions,  organized  an  army,  and  adopted 
measures  for  vigorous  resistance.  But  Ferdinand  was  pre- 
pared for  all  these  demonstrations.  His  Hungarian  truce  en- 
abled him  to  march  a  strong  army  on  Bohemia.  The  party 
in  power  has  always  numerous  supporters  from  those  who, 
being  in  office,  will  lose  their  dignities  by  revolution.  The 
king  summoned  all  the  well  affected  to  repair  to  his  standards, 
threatening  condign  punishment  to  all  who  did  not  give  this 
proof  of  loyalty.  Nobles  and  knights  in  great  numbers  flocked 
to  his  encampment.  With  menacing  steps  his  battalions  strode 
on,  and  triumphantly  entered  Prague,  the  capital  city,  situated 
in  the  very  heart  of  the  kingdom. 

The  indignation  in  the  city  was  great,  but  the  king  was 
too  strong  to  be  resisted,  and  he  speedily  quelled  all  move- 
ments of  tumult.  Prague,  situated  upon  the  steep  and  craggy 
banks  of  the  Moldau,  spanning  the  stream,  and  with  its  antique 
dwellings  rising  tier  above  tier  upon  the  heights,  is  one  of  the 
most  grand  and  imposing  capitals  of  Europe.  About  one 
hundred  and  twenty  thousand  inhabitants  crowd  its  narrow 
streets  and  massive  edifices.  Castles,  fortresses,  somber  con- 
vents and  the  Gothic  palaces  of  the  old  Bohemian  monarchs, 
occupying  every  picturesque  locality,  as  gray  with  age  as  the 
eternal  crags  upon  which  they  stand,  and  exhibiting  every  fan- 
tastic variety  of  architecture,  present  an  almost  unrivaled  as- 
pect of  beauty  and  of  grandeur.  The  Palace  on  the  HiU  alona 
is  larger  than  the  imperial  palace  at  Vienna,  containing  ovei 
four  hundred  apartments,  some  of  them  being  rooms  of  mag 
uificent  dimensions.     The  cathedral  within  the  precincts  of  thris 


FKBDINAND    I.-  -HIS    WAB8     AND    INTRIGUES,       IW 

palace  occupied  more  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  in  hs 
erection. 

Ferdinand,  with  the  iron  energy  and  determined  will  of  ao 
enraged,  successful  despot,  stationed  his  troops  at  the  gates, 
the  bridges  and  at  every  commanding  position,  and  thus  tock 
military  possession  of  the  city.  The  inhabitants,  overawed  and 
helpless,  were  in  a  state  of  terror.  The  emperor  summoned 
six  hundred  of  the  most  influential  of  the  citizens  to  his  pal- 
ace, including  all  who  possessed  rank  or  office  or  wealth. 
Tremblingly  they  came.  As  soon  as  they  had  entered,  the 
gates  were  closed  and  guarded,  and  they  were  all  made  prig- 
oners.  The  king  then,  seated  upon  his  throne,  in  his  royal 
robes,  and  with  his  armed  officers  around  him,  ordered  the 
captives  like  culprits  to  be  led  before  him.  Sternly  he  charged 
them  with  treason,  and  demanded  what  excuse  they  had  to 
ofifer.  They  were  powerless,  and  their  only  hope  was  in  seJ^ 
abasement.     One,  speaking  in  the  name  of  the  rest,  said : 

"  We  will  not  presume  to  enter  into  any  defense  of  our 
conduct  with  our  king  and  master.  We  cast  ourselves  upon 
his  royal  mercy." 

They  then  all  simultaneously  threw  themselves  upon  their 
knees,  imploring  his  pardon.  The  king  allowed  them  to  re- 
main for  some  time  in  thi*  Dosture,  that  he  might  enjoy  their 
humiliation.  He  then  ordered  his  officers  to  conduct  them 
into  the  hall  of  justice,  and  detain  them  there  until  he  had 
decided  rt;Rpecting  their  punishment.  For  some  hours  they 
were  kept  in  this  state  of  suspense.  He  then  informed  them, 
that  out  of  his  great  clemency  he  had  decided  to  pardon  th^D 
on  the  following  conditions. 

They  were  to  surrender  all  their  constitutional  privileges, 
whatever  they  were,  into  the  hands  of  the  king,  and  be  satis- 
fied with  whatever  privileges  he  might  condescend  to  con^ 
upon  them.  They  were  to  bring  all  their  artillery,  muskets 
and  ammunition  to  the  palace,  and  surrender  them  to  his 
officers ;  all  the  revenues  of  the  city,  together  with  a  tax  npoo 


158  THE     HOUSE     OF     AUSTRIA. 

malt  and  beer,  were  to  be  paid  into  his  hands  for  his  disposal 
and  all  their  vassals,  and  their  property  of  every  kind,  they 
were  to  resign  to  the  king  and  to  his  heirs,  whom  they  were 
to  acknowledge  as  the  hereditary  successors  to  the  throne  of 
Bohemia.  Upon  these  conditions  the  king  promised  to  spare 
the  rebellious  city,  and  to  pardon  all  the  offenders,  excepting 
a  few  of  the  most  prominent,  whom  he  was  determined  to 
punish  with  such  severity  as  to  prove  an  effectual  warning  to 
all  others. 

The  prisoners  were  terrified  into  the  immediate  ratification 
of  these  hard  terms.  They  were  then  all  released,  excepting 
forty,  who  were  reserved  for  more  rigorous  punishment.  In 
the  same  manner  the  king  sent  a  summons  to  all  the  towns 
of  the  kingdom  ;  and  by  the  same  terrors  the  same  terms  were 
extorted.  All  the  rural  nobles,  who  had  manifested  a  spirit 
of  resistance,  were  also  summoned  before  a  court  of  justice  for 
trial.  Some  fled  the  kingdom.  Their  estates  were  confis- 
cated to  Ferdinand,  and  they  were  sentenced  to  death  should 
they  ever  return.  Many  others  were  deprived  of  their  pos- 
sessions. Twenty-six  were  thrown  into  prison,  and  two  con- 
demned to  public  execution. 

The  king,  having  thus  struck  all  the  discontented  with  terror, 
summoned  a  diet  to  meet  in  his  palace  at  Prague.  They  met 
the  22d  of  August,  1647.  A  vast  assemblage  was  convened, 
as  no  one  who  was  summoned  dared  to  stay  away.  The  king, 
wishing  to  give  an  intimation  to  the  diet  of  what  they  were 
to  expect  should  they  oppose  his  wishes,  commenced  the  sea- 
gion  by  publicly  hanging  four  of  the  most  illustrious  of  his 
captives.  One  of  these,  high  judge  of  the  kingdom,  was  in 
the  seventieth  year  of  his  age.  The  Bloody  Diet,  as  it  has 
since  been  called,  was  opened,  and  Ferdinand  found  all  as 
pliant  as  he  could  wish.  The  royal  discipline  had  effected 
wonders.  The  slightest  intimation  of  Ferdinand  was  accepted 
with  eagerness. 

The  execrable  tyrant  wished  to  impress  the  whole  king* 


FERDINAND    I. — ^HIS     WARS     AND     INTRIGUES.     16© 

dom  with  a  salutary  dread  of  incurring  his  paternal  displea- 
rare.  He  brought  out  the  forty  prisoners  who  still  remained 
in  their  duiigeons.  Eight  of  the  most  distinguished  men  of 
the  kingdom  were  led  to  three  of  the  principal  cities,  in  each 
of  which,  ill  the  public  square,  they  were  ignominioudy  and 
cruelly  whipped  on  the  bare  back.  Before  each  flagellation 
the  executioner  proclaimed — 

**  These  men  are  punished  because  they  are  traitors,  and 
because  they  excited  the  people  against  their  hereditary 
master." 

They  then,  with  eight  others,  their  property  being  confis- 
cated, in  utter  beggary,  were  driven  as  vagabonds  from  the 
kingdom.  Tlie  rest,  after  being  impoverished  by  fines,  were 
restored  to  liberty.  Ferdinand  adopted  vigorous  measures 
to  establish  his  despotic  power.  Considering  the  Protestant 
religion  as  peculiarly  hostile  to  despotism,  in  the  encourage- 
ment it  afforded  to  education,  to  the  elevation  of  the  masses, 
and  to  the  diffusion  of  those  principles  of  fraternal  equality 
which  Christ  enjoined  ;  and  considering  the  Catholic  religion 
as  the  great  bulwark  of  kingly  power,  by  the  intolerance  of 
the  Church  teaching  the  benighted  multitudes  subjection  to 
civil  intolerance,  Ferdinand,  with  unceasing  vigilance,  and 
with  melancholy  success,  endeavored  to  eradicate  the  Lu- 
theran doctrines  from  the  kingdom.  He  established  the  most 
rigorous  censorship  of  the  press,  and  would  allow  no  foreign 
work,  unexamined,  to  enter  the  realm.  He  established  io 
Bohemia  the  fanatic  order  of  the  Jesuits,  and  intrusted  to 
them  the  education  of  the  young. 

It  18  often  impossible  to  reconcile  the  inconsistencies  of  the 
human  heart.  Ferdinand,  while  guilty  of  such  atrocities,  S&- 
fected,  on  some  points,  the  most  scrupulous  punctilios  of  honor. 
The  clearly-defined  privileges  which  had  been  promised  the 
Protestants,  he  would  not  infringe  in  the  least.  They  were 
permitted  to  give  their  children  Protestant  teachers,  and  to 
oondact  worship  in  their  own  way.    He  effected  his  object  of 


i0O  THK     HOUSE    OP     AUSTRIA. 

changing  Bohemia,  from  an  elective  to  a  hereditary  monarchy, 
and  thus  there  was  established  in  Bohemia  the  renowned  doo- 
trine  of  regal  legitimacy  ;  of  the  divine  right  of  kings  to  gov- 
ern. With  such  a  bloody  hand  was  the  doctrine  of  the  sov- 
ereignty, not  of  the  people^  but  of  the  nobles^  overthrown  in 
Bohemia.  The  nobles  are  not  much  to  be  commiserated,  for 
they  trampled  upon  the  people  as  mercilessly  as  the  king  did 
upon  them.  It  is  merely  another  illustration  of  the  old  and 
melancholy  story  of  the  strong  devouring  the  weak  :  the  owl 
takes  the  wren ;  the  eagle  the  owl. 

Bohemia,  thus  brought  in  subjection  to  a  single  mind,  and 
shackled  in  its  spirit  of  free  enterprise,  began  rapidly  to  ex- 
hibit symptoms  of  decline  and  decay.  It  was  a  great  revo- 
lution, accomplished  by  cunning  and  energy,  and  maintained 
by  the  terrors  of  confiscation,  exile  and  death. 

The  Emperor  Charles  V.,  it  will  be  remembered,  had  at- 
tempted in  vain  to  obtain  the  reversion  of  the  imperial  crown 
for  his  son  Philip  at  his  own  death.  The  crown  of  Spain  was 
his  hereditary  possession,  and  that  he  could  transmit  to  his 
son.  But  the  crown  of  the  empire  was  elective.  Charles  V. 
was  so  anxious  to  secure  the  imperial  dignity  for  his  son,  that 
he  retained  the  crown  of  the  empire  for  some  months  after 
abdicating  that  of  Spain,  still  hoping  to  influence  the  elect- 
ors in  their  choice.  But  there  were  so  many  obstacles  in  the 
way  of  the  recognition  of  the  young  Philip  as  emperor,  that 
Charles,  anxious  to  retain  the  dignity  in  the  family,  reluctantly 
yielded  to  the  intrigues  of  his  brother  Ferdinand,  who  had 
now  become  so  powerful  that  he  could  perhaps  triumph  over 
any  little  irregularity  in  the  succession  and  silence  murmurs. 

Consequently,  Charles,  nine  months  after  the  abdication 
of  the  thrones  of  the  Low  Countries  and  of  Spain,  tried  the 
experiment  of  abdicating  the  elective  crown  of  the  empire  in 
fevor  of  Ferdinand.  It  was  in  many  respects  such  an  act  as 
if  the  President  of  the  United  States  should  abdicate  in  fa ,  or 
of  some  one  of  his  own  choice.    The  emperor  had,  however, 


VBBDINAND    I. — HIS     WARS     AND    INTRIGUES.    161 

a  semblance  of  right  to  place  the  scepter  in  the  hands  of 
whom  he  would  during  his  lifetime.  But,  upon  the  death 
of  the  emperor,  would  his  appointee  still  hold  his  power,  or 
would  the  crown  at  that  moment  be  considered  as  falling  from 
his  brow  ?  It  was  the  7th  of  August,  1556,  when  the  emperor 
abdicated  the  throne  of  the  empire  in  behalf  of  his  brother 
Ferdinand.  It  was  a  new  event  in  history,  without  a  pre- 
cedent, and  the  matter  was  long  and  earnestly  discussed 
throughout  the  German  States.  Notwithstanding  all  Fer- 
dinand's energy,  sagacity  and  despotic  power,  two  years 
elapsed  before  he  could  secure  the  acknowledgment  of  his 
title,  by  the  German  States,  and  obtain  a  proclamation  of  his 
imperial  state. 

The  pope  had  thus  far  had  such  an  amazing  control  over 
the  conscience,  or  rather  the  superstition  of  Europe,  that  the 
choice  of  the  electors  was  ever  subject  to  the  ratification  of 
the  holy  father.  It  was  necessary  for  the  emperor  elect  to 
journey  to  Rome,  and  be  personally  crowned  by  the  hands 
of  the  pope,  before  he  could  be  considered  in  legal  possession 
of  the  imperial  title  and  of  a  right  to  the  occupancy  of  the 
throne.  JuUus  11.,  under  peculiar  circumstances,  allowed  Max- 
imilian to  assume  the  title  o^  emperor  elect  while  he  postponed 
his  visit  to  Rome  for  coronation ;  but  the  want  of  the  papal 
sanction,  by  the  imposition  of  the  crown  upon  his  brow  by 
those  sacred  hands^  thwarted  Maximilian  in  some  of  his  most 
fondly-cherished  measures. 

Paul  IV.  was  now  pontiff,  an  old  man,  jealous  of  his  pre- 
rogatives, intolerant  in  the  extreme,  and  cherishing  the  most 
exorbitant  sense  of  hia  spiritual  power.  He  execrated  the 
Protestants,  and  was  indignant  with  Ferdinand  that  he  had 
shown  them  any  mercy  at  all.  But  Ferdinand,  conscious  of 
the  importance  of  a  papal  coronation,  sent  a  very  obsequious 
embassy  to  Rome,  announcing  his  appointment  as  emperor, 
and  imploring  the  benediction  of  the  holy  father  and  the  re- 
ception of  the  crown  fronr.  his  hands.     The  haughty  and  dis 


162  THB     HOnSB     OP     AUSTBIA. 

dainful  reply  of  the  pope  was  characteristic  of  the  times  aiKt 
of  the  man.     It  was  in  brief,  as  follows : 

"  The  Emperor  Charles  has  behaved  like  a  madman ;  and 
his  acts  are  no  more  to  be  respected  than  the  ravings  of  insan- 
hj.  Charles  V.  received  the  imperial  crown  fi-om  the  head  of 
the  Church  i  in  abdicating,  that  crown  could  only  return  to  the 
Bacred  hands  which  conferred  it.  The  nomination  of  Ferdi- 
nand as  his  successor  we  pronounce  to  be  null  and  void.  The 
alleged  ratification  of  the  electors  is  a  mockery,  dishonored 
and  vitiated  as  it  is  by  the  votes  of  electors  polluted  with 
heresy.  We  therefore  command  Ferdinand  to  relinquish  all 
claim  to  the  imperial  crown," 

The  irascible  old  pontiff,  buried  beneath  the  senseless 
pomps  of  the  Vatican,  was  not  at  all  aware  of  the  change 
which  Protestant  preaching  and  writing  had  effected  in  the 
public  mind  of  Germany.  Italy  was  still  slumbering  in  the 
gloom  of  the  dark  ages  ;  but  light  was  beginning  to  dawn  upon 
the  hills  of  the  empire.  One  half  of  the  population  of  the 
German  empire  would  rally  only  the  more  enthusiastically 
around  Ferdinand,  if  he  would  repel  all  papal  assumptions  with 
defiance  and  contempt.  Ferdinand  was  the  wiser  and  the  bet- 
ter informed  man  of  the  two.  He  conducted  with  dignity 
and  firmness  which  make  us  almost  forget  his  crimes.  A  diet 
was  summoned,  and  it  was  quietly  decreed  that  a  papal  corch 
nation  was  no  longer  necessary.  That  one  short  line  was  the 
heaviest  blow  the  papal  throne  had  yet  received.  From  it,  it 
never  recovered  and  never  can  recover. 

Paul  IV.  was  astounded  at  such  effrontery,  and  as  soon  a« 
he  had  recovered  a  little  from  his  astonishment,  alarmed  in 
view  of  such  a  declaration  of  independence,  he  took  counsel  of 
discretion,  and  humiliating  as  it  was,  made  advances  for  a  reo- 
onciliation.  Ferdinand  was  also  anxious  to  be  on  good  terma 
with  the  pope.  While  negotiations  were  pending,  Paul  died, 
his  death  being  perhaps  hastened  by  chagrin.  Pius  IV.  sue 
ceeded  him,  and  pressed  still  more  earnestly  overtures  for  rec 


FERDINAND    I. — HIS    WARS    AND    INTRIUUES.    16S 

<mciliation.  Ferdinand,  through  his  ambassador,  expressed 
his  willingness  to  pledge  the  accustomed  devotion  and  rever- 
ence to  the  head  of  the  Church,  omitting  the  word  obedience. 
But  the  pope  was  anxious,  above  all  things,  to  have  that  em- 
phatic word  obey  introduced  into  the  ritual  of  subjection,  and 
after  employing  all  the  arts  of  diplomacy  and  cajolery,  carried 
his  point.  Ferdinand,  with  duplicity  which  was  not  honora- 
Die,  let  the  word  remain,  saying  that  it  was  not  his  act,  but 
that  of  his  ambassador.  The  pope  affected  satisfaction  with 
the  formal  acknowledgment  of  his  power,  while  Ferdinand 
ever  after  refused  to  recognize  his  authority.  Thus  terminated 
the  long  dependence,  running  through  ages  of  darkness  and 
delusion,  of  the  German  emperors  upon  the  Roman  see. 

Ferdinand  did  not  trouble  himself  to  receive  the  crown 
from  the  pope,  and  since  his  day  the  emperors  of  Germany 
have  no  longer  been  exposed  to  the  expense  and  the  trouble 
of  a  journey  to  Rome  for  their  coronation.  Though  Ferdinand 
was  strongly  attached  to  the  tenets  of  the  papal  church,  and 
would  gladly  have  eradicated  Protestantism  from  his  domains, 
he  was  compelled  to  treat  the  Protestants  with  some  degree 
of  consideration,  as  he  needed  the  aid  of  their  arms  in  the 
wars  in  which  he  was  incessantly  involved  with  the  Turks. 
He  even  made  great  efforts  to  introduce  some  measure  of  con- 
ciliation which  should  reconcile  the  two  parties,  and  thus  re- 
unite his  realms  under  one  system  of  doctrine  and  of  worship. 

Still  Protestantism  was  making  rapid  strides  all  over  Eu- 
rope. It  had  become  the  dominant  religion  in  Denmark  and 
Sweden,  and,  by  the  accession  of  EUzabeth  to  the  throne  of 
England,  was  firmly  established  in  that  important  kingdom. 
In  France  also  the  reformed  religion  had  made  extensive  in 
roads,  gathering  to  its  defense  many  of  the  noblest  spirits,  in 
rank  and  intellect,  in  the  realm.  The  terrors  of  the  inquisition 
had  thus  far  prevented  the  truth  from  making  much  progresi 
in  Spain  and  Portugal. 

With  the   idea   of  promoting   reconciliation,    Ferdinand 


164  THE     HOUSE     OF     AUSTRIA. 

adopted  a  measure  w  hich  contributed  greatly  to  his  popular' 
ity  with  the  Protestants.  He  united  with  France  and  Spain 
in  urging  Pius  IV.,  a  mild  and  pliant  pontiff,  to  convene  a 
council  in  Geimany  to  heal  the  religious  feud.  He  drew  up  a 
memorial,  which  was  published  and  widely  scattered,  declar- 
ing that  the  Protestants  had  become  far  too  powerful  to  be 
treated  with  outrage  or  contempt ;  that  there  were  undeniable 
wrongs  in  the  Church  which  needed  to  be  reformed ;  and  that 
no  harm  could  accrue  from  permitting  the  clergy  to  marry,  and 
to  administer  both  bread  and  wine  to  the  communicants  in  the 
Lord's  Supper.  It  was  a  doctrine  of  the  Church  of  Rome, 
that  the  laity  could  receive  the  bread  only ;  the  wine  was  re- 
served for  the  officiating  priest. 

This  memorial  of  Ferdinand,  drawn  up  with  much  distiaot' 
ness  and  great  force  of  argument,  was  very  grateful  to  the 
Protestants,  but  very  displeasing  to  the  court  of  Rome.  These 
conflicts  raged  for  several  years  without  any  decisive  results. 
The  efforts  of  Ferdinand  to  please  both  parties,  as  usual, 
pleased  neither.  By  the  Protestants  he  was  regarded  as  a 
persecutor  and  intolerant ;  while  the  Catholics  accused  him  of 
lukewarumess,  of  conniving  at  heresy  and  of  dishonoring  the 
Church  by  demanding  of  her  concessions  derogatory  to  her 
authority  and  her  dignity. 

Ferdinand,  finding  that  the  Church  clung  with  deathly 
tenacity  to  its  corruptions,  assumed  himself  quite  the  attitude 
of  a  reformer.  A  memorable  council  had  been  assem»bled  at 
Trent  on  the  16th  of  January,  1562,  Ferdinand  urged  the 
council  to  exhort  the  pope  to  examine  if  there  was  not  room 
for  some  reform  in  his  own  person,  state  or  court.  "  Because,** 
said  he,  "  the  only  true  method  to  obtain  authority  for  the 
reformation  of  others,  is  to  begin  by  amending  oneself.*'  He 
commented  upon  the  manifest  impropriety  of  scandalous  in- 
dulgences ;  of  selling  the  sacred  offices  of  the  Church  to  the 
highest  bidder,  regardless  of  character ;  of  extorting  fees  for 
the  administration  of  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper ;  o! 


FBRDINAND     I. — UIS     WARS     AND    TNTKIGUB3.    166 

offering  prayers  and  performiog  the  servires  of  public  devo 
tion  iu  a  language  which  the  people  could  not  understand  ;  and 
other  similar  and  most  palpable  abuses.  Even  the  kings  ol 
France  and  Spain  united  with  the  emperor  in  these  remon- 
strances. 

It  is  difficult  now  to  conceive  of  the  astonishment  and  m- 
dignation  with  which  the  pope  and  his  adherents  received 
these  very  reasonable  suggestions,  coming  not  from  the  Prot- 
estants but  from  the  most  staunch  advocates  of  the  papacy. 
The  see  of  Rome,  corrupt  to  its  very  core,  would  yield  noth- 
ing. The  more  senseless  and  abominable  any  of  its  corrup- 
tious  were,  the  more  tenaciously  did  pope  and  cardinals  cling 
to  them.  At  last  the  emperor,  in  despair  of  seeing  any  thing 
accomplished,  requested  that  the  assembly  might  be  dissolved, 
iaying,  "  Nothing  good  can  be  expected,  even  if  it  continua 
ke  sittings  for  a  hundred  jeatn.** 


CHAPTER    XI. 

DBATH  OP  FERDINAND  L— ACCESSION  OP  MAXnirLIAM  TL 
From  1562  to  1576. 

Tax  CouNoii,  OP  Trent.— Spbead  of  thb  Refoemation.— Feedinand'S  Attempt  to  or- 

FLtTBNCB  THE  PoPB. — Hl8    AbGCMEKTS   AGAmST  CbLIBAOT. — StUBBOENNESS  OP  THI 

Pope. — Maximilian  II. — Displbabubb  of  Ferdinand. — Motives  fob  not  abjitb* 
ING  the  Cathouc  Faith. — Bbligioub  Stripe  in  Europe. — Maximilian's  Addrbh 
to  Charles  IX. — Mtttitai,  Toleration. — Romantic  Pastime  of  Wab. — Hbboism 
OF  Nicholas,  Count  of  ZBrNi. — Aooebsion  of  Power  to  Austbia. — Accession  of 
Rhodolph  III. — Death  op  Maxxmilian. 

rpHIS  celebrated  council  of  Trent,  which  was  called  with  th« 
-^  hope  that  by  a  spirit  of  concession  and  reform  the  relig- 
ious dissensions  which  agitated  Europe  might  be  adjusted,  de- 
clared, in  the  very  bravado  of  papal  intolerance,  the  very  worst 
abuses  of  the  Church  to  be  essential  articles  of  faith,  which 
could  only  be  renounced  at  the  peril  of  eternal  condemnation, 
and  thus  presented  an  insuperable  barrier  to  any  reconciliation 
between  the  Catholics  and  the  Protestants.  Ferdinand  was 
disappointed,  and  yet  did  not  venture  to  break  with  the  pope  by 
withholding  his  assent  from  the  decrees  which  were  enacted. 
The  Lutheran  doctrines  had  spread  widely  through  Ferdi- 
nand's hereditary  States  of  Austria.  Several  of  the  professors 
in  the  university  at  Vienna  had  embraced  those  views ;  and 
quite  a  number  of  the  most  powerful  and  opulent  of  the  terri- 
torial lords  even  maintained  Protestant  chaplains  at  their  cas- 
tles. The  majority  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  Austrian  States 
had,  in  the  course  of  a  few  years,  become  Protestants.  Though 
Ferdinand  did  every  thing  he  dared  to  do  to  check  their  prog- 
ress, forbidding  the  circulation  of  Luther's  translation  of  the 


DKATH     OF     FERDINAJfD     1.  167 

Bible,  and  throwing  all  the  obstacles  he  could  in  the  way  of 
Protestant  worship,  he  was  compelled  to  grant  them  very  con- 
siderable  toleration,  and  to  overlook  the  infiaction  of  his  de> 
crees,  that  he  might  secure  their  aid  to  repel  the  Turks. 
Providence  seemed  to  overrule  the  Moslem  invasion  for  the 
protection  of  the  Protestant  faith.  Notwithstanding  aD  the 
efforts  of  Ferdinand,  the  reformers  gained  ground  in  Austria 
as  in  other  parts  of  Germany. 

The  two  articles  upon  which  the  Protestants  at  this  time 
placed  most  stress  were  the  right  of  the  clergy  to  marry  and 
the  administration  of  the  communion  under  both  kinds,  as  it 
was  called  ;  that  is,  that  the  communicants  should  partake  of 
both  the  bread  and  the  wine.  Ferdinand,  having  failed  en- 
tirely in  inducing  the  council  to  submit  to  any  reform,  opened 
direct  communication  with  the  pope  to  obtain  for  bis  subjects 
indulgence  in  respect  to  these  two  articles.  In  advocacy  of 
this  measure  he  wrote  : 

*'  In  Bohemia  no  persuasion,  no  argument,  no  violence,  not 
even  arms  and  war,  have  succeeded  in  abolishing  the  use  of 
the  cup  as  well  as  the  bread  in  the  sacrament.  In  fact  the 
Church  itself  permitted  it,  although  the  popes  revoked  it  by  a 
breach  of  the  conditions  on  which  it  was  granted.  In  the 
other  States,  Hungary,  Austria,  Silesia,  Styria,  Carinthia,  Car- 
niola,  Bavaria  and  other  parts  of  Germany,  many  desire  with 
ardor  the  same  indulgence.  If  this  concession  is  granted  they 
may  be  reunited  to  the  Church,  but  if  refused  they  will  be 
driven  into  the  party  of  the  Protestants.  So  many  of  the 
priests  have  been  degraded  by  their  diocesans  for  administer 
ing  the  sacrament  in  both  kinds,  that  the  country  is  almost 
deprived  of  priests.  Hence  children  die  or  grow  up  to  matu- 
rity without  baptism  ;  and  men  and  women,  of  all  ages  and  of 
all  ranks,  live  like  the  brutes,  in  the  grossest  ignorance  of  God 
and  of  religion." 

In  reference  to  the  marriage  of  the  clergy  he  wrote :  "  If 

a  permission  to  the  clergy  to  maiTy  can  not  be  granted,  may 

H 


168  THE     HOUSE     OF     AUSTRIA. 

DOt  married  men  of  learning  and  probity  be  ordained,  accord* 
ing  to  the  custom  of  the  eastern  church  ;  or  married  priests 
be  tolerated  for  a  time,  provided  they  act  according  to  the 
Catholic  and  Christian  faith  ?  And  it  may  be  justly  asked 
whether  such  concessions  would  not  be  far  preferable  to  tol- 
erating, as  has  unfortunately  been  done,  fornication  and  con- 
cubinage ?  I  can  not  avoid  adding,  what  is  a  common  obser- 
vation, that  priests  who  live  in  concubinage  are  guilty  of 
greater  sin  than  those  who  are  married ;  for  the  last  only 
transgress  a  law  which  is  capable  of  being  changed,  whereas 
the  first  sin  against  a  divine  law,  which  is  capable  of  neither 
change  nor  dispensation." 

The  pope,  pressed  with  all  the  importunity  which  Ferdi- 
nand could  urge,  reluctantly  consented  to  the  administration 
of  the  cup  to  the  laity,  but  resolutely  refused  to  tolerate  the 
marriage  of  the  clergy.  Ferdinand  was  excessively  annoyed 
by  the  stubbornness  of  the  court  of  Rome  in  its  refusal  to 
submit  to  the  most  reasonable  reform,  thus  rendering  it  impos- 
sible for  him  to  allay  the  religious  dissensions  which  were  still 
spreading  and  increasing  in  acrimony.  His  disappointment 
was  so  great  that  it  is  said  to  have  thrown  him  into  the  fever 
of  which  he  died  on  the  25th  of  July,  1564. 

For  several  ages  the  archdukes  of  Austria  had  been  en- 
deavoring to  unite  the~!Austrian  States  with  Hungary  and  Bo- 
hemia under  one  monarchy.  The  union  had  been  temi^orarily 
effected  once  or  twice,  but  Ferdinand  accorajjlished  the  per- 
manent union,  and  may  thus  be  considered  as  the  founder  of 
the  Austrian  monarchy  essentially  as  it  now  exists.  As  Arch- 
duke of  Austria,  he  inherited  the  Austrian  duchies.  By  his 
marriage  with  Anne,  daughter  of  Ladislaus,  King  of  Hungary 
and  Bohemia,  he  secured  those  crowns,  which  he  made  hered- 
itary Ie  his  family.  He  left  three  sons.  The  eldest,  Maxi< 
milian,  inherited  the  archduchy  of  Austria  and  the  crowns  of 
Bohemia  and  Hungary,  of  course  inheriting,  with  Hungary 
prospective  war  with  the  Turks.     The  second  son,  Ferdinand 


ACCESSION     OF     MAXIMILIAN    II.  IM 

bad,  as  his  legacy,  the  government  and  the  revenues  of  the 
Tyrol.  The  third  son,  Charles,  received  Styria.  There  were 
nine  daughters  left,  three  of  whom  took  the  vail  and  the  rest 
formed  illustrious  marriages. 

Ferdinand  appears  to  have  been  a  sincere  Catholic,  though 
be  saw  the  great  corruptions  of  the  Church  and  earnestly  de- 
sired reform.  As  he  advanced  in  years  he  became  more  toler- 
ant  and  gentle,  and  had  his  wise  counsels  been  pursued  Eu- 
rope would  have  escaped  inexpressible  woes.  Still  he  clung  to 
the  Church,  unwisely  seeking  unity  of  faith  and  discipline, 
which  can  hardly  be  attained  in  this  world,  rather  than  tolera- 
tion with  allowed  diversity. 

Maximilian  II.  was  thirty-seven  years  of  age  on  his  acces- 
^on  to  the  throne.  Although  he  was  educated  in  the  court 
•of  Spain,  which  was  the  most  bigoted  and  intolerant  in  Europe, 
yet  he  developed  a  character  remarkable  for  mildness,  affabil 
ity  and  tolerance.  He  was  indebted  for  these  attractive  traits 
to  his  tutor,  a  man  of  enlarged  and  cultivated  mind,  and  who 
had,  like  most  men  of  his  character  at  that  time,  a  strong  lean- 
ing towards  Protestantism.  These  principles  took  so  firm  a 
hold  of  his  youthful  mind  that  they  could  never  be  eradicated. 
As  he  advanced  in  life  he  became  more  and  more  interested 
in  the  Protestant  faith.  He  received  a  clergyman  of  the  re- 
formed religion  as  his  chaplain  and  private  secretary,  and  par- 
took of  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  from  his  hands, 
in  both  kinds.  Even  while  remaining  in  the  Spanish  court 
lie  entered  into  a  correspondence  with  several  of  the  most  in- 
flaential  advocates  of  the  Protestant  faith.  Returning  to  Aus- 
tria from  Spain,  he  attended  public  worship  in  the  chapels  of 
the  Protestants,  and  communed  with  them  in  the  sacrament  of 
the  Lord's  Supper.  When  some  of  his  friends  warned  him 
that  by  pursuing  such  a  course  he  could  never  hope  to  obtain 
the  imperial  crown  of  Germany,  he  replied  : 

"  I  will  sacrifice  all  worldly  interests  for  the  sake  of  mj 
salvation.'* 


170  THE     HOUSE     OF     AUSTRIA. 

His  father,  the  Emperor  Ferdinand,  was  so  much  displeased 
wit.i  his  son's  advocacy  of  the  Protestant  faith,  that  after  many 
angry  remonstrances  he  threatened  to  disinherit  him  if  he  did 
not  renounce  all  connection  with  the  reformers.  But  Maxi- 
milian, true  to  his  conscience,  would  not  allow  the  apprehension 
of  the  loss  of  a  crown  to  induce  him  to  swerve  from  his  faith. 
Fully  expecting  to  be  thus  cast  off  and  banished  from  the 
.  kingdom,  he  wrote  to  the  Protestant  elector  Palatine  : 

"  I  have  so  deeply  offended  my  father  by  maintaining  a 
Lutheran  preacher  in  my  service,  that  I  am  apprehensive  of 
being  expelled  as  a  fugitive,  and  hope  to  find  an  asylum  in 
your  court." 

The  Catholics  of  course  looked  with  apprehension  to  the 
accession  of  Maximilian  to  the  throne,  while  the  Protestants 
anticipated  the  event  with  great  hope.  There  were,  however, 
many  considerations  of  vast  moment  influencing  Maximilian  not 
to  separate  himself,  in  form,  from  the  Catholic  church.  Philip, 
his  cousin,  King  of  Spain,  was  childless,  and  should  he  die  with- 
out issue,  Ferdinand  would  inherit  that  magnificent  throne, 
which  he  could  not  hope  to  ascend,  as  an  avowed  Protestant, 
without  a  long  and  bloody  war.  It  had  been  the  most  ear- 
nest dying  injunction  of  his  father  that  he  should  not  abjure 
the  Catholic  faith.  His  wife  was  a  very  zealous  Catholic,  aa 
was  also  each  one  of  his  brothers.  There  were  very  many 
who  remained  in  the  Catholic  church  whose  sympathies  were 
with  the  reformers — who  hoped  to  promote  reformation  in 
the  Church  without  leaving  it.  Influenced  by  such  consider- 
ations, Maximilian  made  a  public  confession  of  the  Catholic 
feith,  received  his  father's  confessor,  and  maintained,  in  his 
court,  the  usages  of  the  papal  church.  He  was,  however,  the 
kind  friend  of  the  Protestants,  ever  seeking  to  shield  them 
from  persecution,  claiming  for  them  a  liberal  toleration,  and 
seeking,  in  all  ways,  to  promote  frateraal  religious  feeling 
throughout  his  domains. 

The  prudence  of  Maximilian  wonderfully  allayed  the  bit- 


ACCKssioN    OF    Maximilian    ii  171 

(emess  of  religious  strife  in  Germany,  while  other  portions  of 
Europe  were  desolated  with  the  fiercest  warfare  between  the 
Catholics  and  Protestants.  In  Prance,  in  particular,  the  con- 
flict raged  with  merciless  fury.  It  was  on  August  24th,  1572, 
but  a  few  years  after  Maximilian  ascended  the  throne,  when 
the  Catholics  of  France  perpetrated  the  Massacre  of  St.  Bar* 
tholomew,  perhaps  the  most  atrocious  crime  recorded  in  his- 
tory. The  Catholics  and  Protestants  in  France  were  nearly 
equally  divided  in  numbers,  wealth  and  rank.  The  papal 
party,  finding  it  impossible  to  crush  their  foes  by  force  of 
arms,  resolved  to  exterminate  them  by  a  simultaneous  mas- 
Bacre.  They  feigned  toleration  and  reconciliation.  The  court 
of  Paris  invited  all  the  leading  Protestants  of  the  kingdom  to 
the  metropolis  to  celebrate  the  nuptials  of  Henry,  the  young 
King  of  Navarre,  with  Margaret,  sister  of  Charles  IX.,  the 
reigning  monarch.  Secret  orders  were  dispatched  all  over 
the  kingdom,  for  the  conspirators,  secretly  armed,  at  a  given 
Bignal,  by  midnight,  to  rise  upon  the  Protestants,  men, 
women  and  children,  and  utterly  exterminate  them.  "  Let 
not  one  remain  alive,"  said  the  King  of  France,  "  to  tell  the 
story." 

The  deed  was  nearly  accomplished.  The  king  himself 
from  a  window  of  the  Louvre,  fired  upon  his  Protestant 
subjects,  as  they  fled  in  dismay  through  the  streets.  In  a 
few  hours  eighty  thousand  of  the  Protestants  were  mangled 
corpses.  Protestantism  in  France  has  never  recovered  from 
this  Mow.  Maximilian  openly  expressed  his  execration  of 
this  deed,  though  the  pope  ordered  Te  Deums  to  be  chanted 
at  Rome  in  exultation  over  the  crime.  Not  long  after  this 
horrible  slaughter,  Charles  IX.  died  in  mental  torment.  Henry 
of  Valois,  brother  of  the  deceased  king,  succeeded  to  the 
throne.  He  was  at  that  time  King  of  Poland.  Returning  to 
France,  through  Vienna,  he  had  an  interview  with  Maximil- 
ian, who  addressed  him  in  those  memorable  words  which  hav« 
often  been  quoted  to  the  honor  of  the  Austrian  sovereign : 


112  THE     HOUSE     OF     AUSTRIA. 

"There  is  no  crime  greater  in  princes,"  said  Maxiiuilian, 
"than  to  tyrannize  over  the  consciences  of  their  subjects.  By 
shedding  the  blood  of  heretics,  far  from  honoring  the  common 
Father  of  all,  they  incnr  the  divine  vengeance ;  and  while 
they  aspire,  by  such  means,  to  crowns  in  heaven,  they  justly 
expose  themselves  to  the  loss  of  their  earthly  kingdoms." 

Under  the  peaceful  and  humane  reign  of  Ferdinand,  Ger- 
many  was  kept  in  a  general  state  of  tranquillity,  while  storma 
of  war  and  woe  were  sweeping  over  almost  all  other  parts  of 
Europe.  During  all  his  reign,  Maximilian  II.  was  unwearied 
in  his  endeavors  to  promote  harmony  between  the  two  great 
religious  parties,  by  trying,  on  the  one  hand,  to  induce  the 
pope  to  make  reasonable  concessions,  and,  on  the  other  hand, 
to  induce  the  Protestants  to  moderate  their  demands.  His 
first  great  endeavor  was  to  induce  the  pope  to  consent  to  the 
marriage  of  the  clergy.  In  this  he  failed  entirely.  He  then 
tried  to  form  a  basis  of  mutual  agreement,  upon  which  the 
two  parties  could  unite.  His  father  had  attempted  this  plan, 
and  found  it  utterly  impracticable.  Maximilian  attempted  it, 
with  just  as  little  success.  It  has  been  attempted  a  thousand 
times  since,  and  has  always  failed.  Good  men  are  ever  rising 
who  mourn  the  divisions  in  the  Christian  Church,  and  strive 
to  form  some  plan  of  union,  where  all  true  Christians  can  meet 
and  fraternize,  and  forget  their  minor  differences.  Alas !  for 
poor  human  nature,  there  is  but  little  prospect  that  this  plan 
can  ever  be  accomplished.  There  will  be  always  those  who 
can  not  discriminate  between  essential  and  non-essential  dit 
ferences  of  opinion.  Maximilian  at  last  fell  back  simply  upon 
the  doctrine  of  a  liberal  toleration,  and  in  maintaining  this  he 
was  eminently  successful. 

At  one  time  the  Turks  were  crowding  him  very  hard  In 
Hungary.  A  special  effort  was  requisite  to  raise  troops  to 
repel  them.  Maximilian  summoned  a  diet,  and  appealed  to 
the  assembled  nobles  for  supplies  of  men  and  money.  In 
Austria  proper,  Protestantism  was  now  in  the  decided  ascend* 


ACCESSION    OF     MAXIMILIAN    II.  178 

ency.  The  nobles  took  advantage  of  the  emperor's  wants  to 
reply— 

"  We  are  ready  to  march  to  the  assistance  of  our  80v« 
ereign,  to  repel  the  Turks  from  Hungary,  if  the  Jesuits  are 
first  expelled  from  our  territories." 

The  answer  of  the  king  was  characteristic  of  his  policy  and 
of  his  career.  "  I  have  convened  you,"  he  said,  "  to  give  me 
contributions,  not  remonstrances.  I  wish  you  to  help  me 
expel  the  Turks,  not  the  Jesuits." 

From  many  a  piince  this  reply  would  have  excited  exas- 
peration. But  Maximilian  had  established  such  a  character 
for  impartiality  and  probity,  that  the  rebuke  was  received 
with  applause  rather  than  with  murmurs,  and  the  Protestants, 
with  affectionate  zeal,  rallied  around  his  standard.  So  great 
was  the  influence  of  the  king,  that  toleration,  as  one  of  the 
virtues  of  the  court,  became  the  fashion,  and  the  Catholics 
and  Protestants  vied  with  each  other  in  the  manifestation  of 
mutual  forbearance  and  good  will.  They  met  on  equal  terms 
in  the  palace  of  the  monarch,  shared  alike  in  his  confidence 
and  his  favors,  and  cooperated  cordially  in  the  festivities  of 
the  banqueting  room,  and  in  the  toils  of  the  camp.  We 
love  to  dwell  upon  the  first  beautiful  specimen  of  toleration 
which  the  world  has  seen  in  any  court.  It  is  the  more  beau- 
tifiil,  and  the  more  wonderful,  as  having  occurred  in  a  dark 
age  of  bigotry,  intolerance  and  persecution.  And  let  us  be 
sufficiently  candid  to  confess,  that  it  was  professedly  a  Roman 
Catholic  monarch,  a  member  of  the  papal  church,  to  whom 
the  world  is  indebted  for  this  first  recognition  of  true  mental 
fireedom.  It  can  not  be  denied  that  Maximilian  II.  was  m 
advance  of  the  avowed  Protestants  of  his  day. 

Pope  Pius  V.  was  a  bigot,  inflexible,  overbearing ;  and  he 
determined,  with  a  bloody  hand,  to  crush  all  dissent.  Fi'om 
his  throne  in  the  Vatican  he  cast  an  eagle  eye  to  Germany, 
and  was  alarmed  and  indignant  at  the  innovations  which  Max- 
imilian was  permitting.     In  all  haste  he  dispatched  a  legate 


I74  THB     HOrSB     OP     AirSTBIA 

to  remonstrate  strongly  against  such  Hberality.  Maximilian 
received  the  legate,  Cardinal  Commendon,  with  courtesy,  bat 
for  a  time  firmly  refused  to  change  his  policy  in  obedience  to 
the  exactions  of  the  pope.  The  pope  brought  to  bear  upon 
him  all  the  influence  of  the  Spanish  court.  He  was  threat- 
ened with  war  by  all  the  papal  forces,  sustained  by  the  thwi 
immense  power  of  the  Spanish  monarchy.  For  a  time  Max- 
imilian  was  in  great  perplexity,  and  finally  yielded  to  the  pope 
so  far  as  to  promise  not  to  permit  any  further  innovations 
than  those  which  he  had  already  allowed,  and  not  to  extend 
his  principles  of  toleration  into  any  of  his  States  where  they 
had  not  as  yet  been  introduced.  Thus,  while  he  did  not  re- 
tract any  concessions  he  had  made,  he  promised  to  stop  where 
he  was,  and  proceed  no  further. 

Maximilian  was  so  deeply  impressed  with  the  calamities  of 
war,  that  he  even  sent  an  embassy  to  the  Turks,  offering  to 
continue  to  pay  the  tribute  which  they  had  exacted  of  his 
fether,  as  the  price  of  a  continued  armistice.  But  Solyman, 
having  made  large  preparations  for  the  renewed  invasion  of 
Himgary,  and  sanguine  of  success,  haughtily  rejected  the  offer, 
and  renewed  hostilities. 

Nearly  all  of  the  eastern  and  southern  portions  of  Hungary 
were  already  in  the  hands  of  the  Turks.  Maximilian  held  a 
few  important  towns  and  strong  fortresses  on  the  western  fron- 
tier. Not  feeling  strong  enough  to  attempt  to  repel  the  Turks 
from  the  portion  they  already  held,  he  strengthened  his  garri- 
sons, and  raising  an  army  of  eighty  thousand  men,  of  which 
fie  assumed  the  command,  he  entered  Hungary  and  marched 
down  the  Danube  about  sixty  miles  to  Baab,  to  await  the  ft>e 
and  act  on  the  defensive.  Solyman  rendezvoused  an  immense 
army  at  Belgrade,  and  commenced  his  march  up  the  Danube. 

"  Old  as  I  am,"  said  he  to  his  troops,  "  I  am  determined 
to  chastise  the  house  of  Austria,  or  to  perish  in  the  attempt 
beneath  the  walls  of  Vienna." 

It  was  beautiful  spring  weather,  and-  the  swelling  buds  and 


ACCESSION    OF    MAXIMILIAIT    II.  1Y5 

hourly  increasing  verdure,  decorated  the  fields  with  lovciliness. 
For  several  days  the  Turks  marched  along  the  right  bank  of 
the  Danube,  through  green  fields,  and  beneath  a  sunny  sky, 
encountering  no  foe.  War  seemed  but  as  the  pastime  of  a 
festive  day,  as  gay  banners  floated  in  the  breeze,  groups  of 
horsemen,  gorgeously  caparisoned,  pranced  along,  and  the  tur- 
baned  multitude,  in  brilliant  uniform,  with  jokes,  and  laugh- 
ter and  songs,  leisurely  ascended  the  majestic  stream.  A  fleet 
of  boats  filled  the  whole  body  of  the  river,  impelled  by  sails 
when  the  wind  favored,  or,  when  the  winds  were  adverse, 
driven  by  the  strong  arms  of  the  rowers  against  the  gentle 
tide.  Each  night  the  white  tents  were  spread,  and  a  city  for 
a  hundred  thousand  inhabitants  rose  as  by  magic,  with  its 
grassy  streets,  its  squares,  its  busy  population,  its  music,  its 
splendor,  blazing  in  all  the  regalia  of  war.  As  by  magic  the 
city  rose  in  the  rays  of  the  declining  sun.  As  by  magic  it  dis- 
appeared in  the  early  dawn  of  the  morning,  and  the  mighty 
hosts  moved  on. 

A  few  days  thus  passed,  when  Solyman  approached  the  for- 
tified town  of  Zigeth,  near  the  confluence  of  the  Drave  and  the 
Danube.  Nicholas,  Count  of  Zrini,  was  intrusted  with  the 
defense  of  this  place,  and  he  fulfilled  his  trust  with  heroism 
and  valor  which  has  immortalized  both  his  name  and  the  for- 
tress which  he  defended.  Zrini  had  a  garrison  of  but  three 
thousand  men.  An  army  of  nearly  a  hundred  thousand  were 
marching  upon  him.  Zrini  collected  his  troops,  and  took  a 
solemn  oath,  in  the  presence  of  all,  that,  true  to  God,  to  his 
Christian  faith,  and  his  country,  he  never  would  surrender  the 
town  to  the  Turks,  but  with  his  life.  He  then  required  each 
soldier  individually  to  take  the  same  oath  to  his  captain.  All 
the  captains  then,  in  the  presence  of  the  assembled  troops, 
took  the  same  oath  to  him. 

The  Turks  soon  an-ived  and  commenced  an  unceasing  bom- 
bardment day  and  night.  The  little  garrison  vigorously  re- 
sponded.   The  besieged  made  fi-equent  sallies,  spiking  the  guns 


1^6  THB     HOUSE     OF     AUSTBIA. 

of  the  besiegers,  and  again  retiring  behind  their  works.  Bat 
their  overpowering  foes  advanced,  inch  by  inch,  till  they  got 
possession  of  what  was  called  the  "  old  city."  The  besieged 
retiring  to  the  "  new  city,"  resumed  the  defense  with  unabated 
ardor.  The  storm  of  war  raged  incessantly  for  many  days, 
and  the  new  city  was  reduced  to  a  smoldering  heap  of  fire 
and  ashes.  The  Turks,  with  incredible  labor,  raised  immense 
mounds  of  earth  and  stone,  on  the  summits  of  which  they 
planted  their  batteries,  where  they  could  throw  their  shot, 
with  unobstructed  aim,  into  every  part  of  the  city.  Roada 
were  construeted  across  the  marsh,  and  the  swarming  multi- 
tudes, in  defiance  of  all  the  eJSbrts  of  the  heroic  Uttle  garri- 
son, filled  up  the  ditch,  and  were  just  on  the  rush  to  take  the 
place  by  a  general  assault,  when  Zrini  abandoned  the  new  city 
to  flames,  and  threw  himself  into  the  citadel.  His  force  was 
now  reduced  to  about  a  thousand  men.  Day  after  day  the 
storm  of  war  blazed  with  demoniac  fury  around  the  oitadeU 
Mines  were  dug,  and,  as  by  volcanic  explosions,  bastions,  with 
men  and  guns,  were  blown  high  into  the  air.  The  indomitable 
Hungarians  made  many  sallies,  cutting  down  the  gunners  and 
spiking  the  guns,  but  they  were  always  driven  back  with  heavy 
loss.  Repeated  demands  for  capitulation  were  sent  in  and  as 
repeatedly  rejected.  For  a  week  seven  assaults  were  made 
daily  upon  the  citadel  by  the  Turks,  but  they  were  always  re- 
pulsed. At  length  the  outer  citadel  was  entirely  demolished. 
Then  the  heroic  band  retired  to  the  inner  works.  They  were 
now  without  ammunition  or  provisions,  and  the  Turks,  exas- 
perated by  such  a  defense,  were  almost  gnashing  their  teeth 
with  rage.  The  old  sultan,  Solyman,  actually  died  from  the  in- 
tensity of  his  vexation  and  wrath.  The  death  of  the  sultaq 
was  concealed  from  the  Turkish  troops,  and  a  general  assault 
was  arranged  upon  the  inner  works.  The  hour  had  now  come 
when  they  must  surrender  or  die,  for  the  citadel  was  all  bat- 
tered into  a  pile  of  smoldering  ruins,  and  there  were  no  ram- 
parts capable  of  checking  the  progress  of  the  foe.     Zrini  a» 


ACCESSION     OF     MAXIMILIAN     II.  177 

iembled  his  little  band,  now  counting  but  six  hundred,  and 
said, 

"  Remember  your  oath.  We  must  die  in  the  flames,  or 
perish  with  hunger,  or  go  forth  to  meet  the  foe.  Let  us  die 
like  men.     Follow  me,  and  do  as  I  do," 

They  made  a  simultaneous  rush  from  their  defenses  into 
the  thickest  of  the  enemy.  For  a  few  moments  there  was  a 
Beene  of  wildest  uproar  and  confusion,  and  the  brave  defend- 
ers were  all  silent  in  death.  The  Turks  with  shouts  of  triumph 
now  rushed  into  the  citadel.  But  Zrini  had  fired  trains  lead- 
ing to  the  subterranean  vaults  of  powder,  and  when  the  ruins 
were  covered  with  the  conquerors,  a  sullen  roar  ran  beneath 
the  ground  and  the  whole  citadel,  men,  horses,  rocks  and  ar- 
tillery were  thrown  into  the  air,  and  fell  a  commingled  mass 
of  ruin,  fire  and  blood.  A  more  heroic  defense  history  has 
not  recorded.  Twenty  thousand  Turks  perished  in  this  siege. 
The  body  of  Zrini  was  found  in  the  midst  of  the  mangled 
dead.  His  head  was  cut  off  and,  aflixed  to  a  pole,  was  raised 
H8  a  trophy  before  the  tent  of  the  deceased  sultan. 

The  death  of  Solyman,  and  the  delay  which  this  desperate 
riege  had  caused,  embarrassed  all  the  plans  of  the  invaders,  and 
they  resolved  upon  a  retreat.  The  troops  were  consequently 
withdrawn  from  Hungary,  and  returned  to  Constantinople. 

Maximilian,  behind  his  iutrenchments  at  Raab,  did  not 
dare  to  march  to  the  succor  of  the  beleaguered  garrison,  for 
overpowering  numbers  would  immediately  have  destroyed 
him  had  he  appeared  in  the  open  field.  But  upon  the  with- 
drawal of  the  Turks  he  disbanded  his  army,  after  having  re- 
plenished his  garrisons,  and  returned  to  Vienna.  Selim  suc- 
ceeded Solyman,  and  Maximilian  sent  an  embassy  to  Constan- 
tinople to  ofier  terms  of  peace.  At  the  same  time,  to  add 
weight  to  his  negotiations,  he  collected  a  large  army,  and  made 
the  most  vigorous  preparations  for  the  prosecution  of  the  war. 

Selim,  just  commencing  his  reign,  anxious  to  consolidate 
his  power,  and  embarrassed  by  insurrection  in  his  own  realms. 


178  THE      HOTT8E     OF     ATI8TBTA. 

was  glad  to  conclude  an  armistice  on  terms  highly  favorable 
to  Maximilian.  John  Sigismond,  who  had  been  crowned  by 
the  Turks,  as  their  tributary  Kjng  of  Hungary,  was  to  retain 
Transylvania.  The  Turks  were  to  hold  the  country  generally 
between  Transylvania  and  the  river  Teiss,  while  Ferdinand 
was  to  have  the  remainder,  extending  many  hundred  miles 
from  the  Teiss  to  Austria.  The  Prince  of  Transylvania  was 
compelled,  though  very  reluctantly,  to  assent  to  this  treaty. 
He  engaged  not  to  assume  the  title  of  King  of  Hungary,  ex- 
cept in  correspondence  with  the  Turks.  The  emperor  prom 
ised  him  one  of  his  nieces  in  marriage,  and  in  return  it  was 
agreed  that  should  John  Sigismond  die  without  male  issue, 
Transylvania  should  revert  to  the  crown  of  Hungary. 

Soon  after  this  treaty,  John  Sigismond  died,  before  his 
marriage  with  the  emperor's  niece,  and  Transylvania  was  again 
united  to  Hungary  and  came  under  the  sway  of  Maximilian. 
This  event  formed  quite  an  accession  to  the  power  of  the  Aus- 
trian monarch,  as  he  now  held  all  of  Hungary  save  the  south* 
em  and  central  portion  where  the  Turks  had  garrisoned  the 
fortresses.  The  pope,  the  King  of  Spain,  and  the  Venetians, 
now  sent  united  ambassadors  to  the  emperor  urging  him  to 
summon  the  armies  of  the  empire  and  drive  the  Turks  entirely 
out  of  Hungary.  Cardinal  Coinmendon  assured  the  emperor, 
in  the  name  of  the  holy  father  of  the  Church,  that  it  was  no 
sin  to  violate  any  compact  with  the  infidel.  Maximilian  nobly 
repUed, 

"  The  faith  of  treaties  ought  to  be  considered  as  invio- 
lable, and  a  Christian  can  never  be  justified  in  breaking  an 
oath." 

Maximilian  never  enjoyed  vigorous  health,  and  being  anx* 
lous  to  secure  the  tranquillity  of  his  extended  realms  after  his 
death,  he  had  his  eldest  son,  Rhodolph,  in  a  diet  at  Presburg, 
crowned  King  of  Hungary.  Rhodolph  at  once  entered  upon 
the  government  of  his  reaim  as  viceroy  during  the  life  of  hi» 
father     Thus  he  would  have  all  the  reins  of  government  in  his 


I 


ACCESSION     OF     MAXIMILIAN     II.  179 

hands,  and,  at  the  death  of  the  emperor,  there  would  be  no 
apparent  change. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  Ferdinand  had,  by  violence 
and  treachery,  wrested  fiom  the  Bohemians  the  privilege  of 
electing  their  sovereign,  and  had  thus  conveited  Bohemia  into 
an  hereditary  monarchy.  Maximilian,  with  characteristic  pru- 
dence, wished  to  maintain  the  hereditary  right  thus  eslab* 
Hshed,  while  at  the  same  time  he  wished  to  avoid  wounding 
the  prejudices  of  those  who  had  surrendered  the  right  of  suft 
frage  only  to  fraud  and  the  sword.  He  accordingly  convoked 
a  diet  at  Prague.  The  nobles  were  assembled  in  large  num- 
bers, and  the  occasion  was  invested  with  unusual  solemnity. 
The  emperor  himself  introduced  to  them  his  son,  and  recom- 
mended him  to  them  as  their  future  sovereign.  The  nobles 
were  much  gratified  by  so  unexpected  a  concession,  and  with 
enthusiasm  accepted  their  new  king.  The  emperor  had  thu« 
wisely  secured  for  his  son  the  crowns  of  Hungary  and  Bohe- 
mia. 

Having  succeeded  in  these  two  important  measures,  Max- 
imilian set  about  the  more  difiicult  enterprise  of  securing  for 
his  son  his  succession  upon  the  imperial  throne.  This  was  a 
difiicult  matter  in  the  strong  rivalry  which  then  existed  be- 
tween the  Catholics  and  the  Protestants.  With  caution  and 
conciliation,  encountering  and  overturning  innumerable  ob- 
stacles, Maximilian  proceeded,  until  having,  as  he  supposed,  a 
fair  chance  of  success,  he  bunimoued  the  diet  of  electors  at 
Katisbon.  But  here  new  difliculties  arose.  The  Protestants 
were  jealous  of  their  constantly-imperiled  privileges,  and 
wished  to  surround  them  with  additional  safeguards.  The 
Catholics,  on  the  contrary,  stimulated  by  the  court  of  Rome, 
wished  to  withdraw  the  toleration  already  granted,  and  to 
pursue  the  Protestant  faith  with  new  rigor.  The  meeting  of 
the  diet  was  long  and  stormy,  and  again  they  were  upon  the 
point  of  a  violent  dissolution.  But  the  wisdom,  moderation 
and  perseverance  of  Maximilian  finally  prevailed,  and  his  sue 


180  THE     HOUSE     OF     AUSTRIA. 

cess  was  entire.  Rhodolph  III.  was  unanimously  choaan  tc 
succeed  him  upon  the  imperial  throne,  and  was  crowned  at 
Ratisbon  on  the  1st  of  November,  1575. 

Poland  was  strictly  an  elective  monarchy.  The  tumultu- 
ous  nobles  had  established  a  law  prohibiting  the  election  of 
a  successor  during  the  lifetime  of  the  monarch.  Their  last 
king  had  been  the  reckless,  chivalrous  Henry,  Duke  of  Anjou, 
brother  of  Charles  IX.  of  France.  Charles  IX.  having  died 
without  issue,  Henry  succeeded  him  upon  the  throne  of  France, 
and  abdicated  the  crown  of  the  semi-barbaric  wilds  of  Poland. 
The  nobles  were  about  to  assemble  for  the  election.  There 
were  many  influential  candidates.  Maximilian  was  anxious  to 
obtain  the  crown  for  his  son  Ernest.  Much  to  the  surprise  of 
Maximilian,  he  himself  was  chosen  king.  Protestantism  had 
gained  the  ascendency  in  Poland,  and  a  large  majority  of  the 
nobles  united  upon  Maximilian.  The  electors  honored  both 
themselves  and  the  emperor  in  assigning,  as  the  reason  for 
their  choice,  that  the  emperor  had  conciliated  the  contending 
factions  of  the  Christian  world,  and  had  acquired  more  glory 
by  his  pacific  policy  than  other  princes  had  acquired  in  the 
exploits  of  war. 

There  were  curious  conditions  at  that  time  assigned  to  the 
occupancy  of  the  throne  of  Poland.  The  elected  monarch, 
before  receiving  the  crown,  was  required  to  give  his  pledge 
that  he  would  reside  two  years  uninterruptedly  in  the  king- 
dom, and  that  then  he  would  not  leave  without  the  consent 
of  the  nobles.  He  was  also  required  to  construct  four  for- 
tresses at  his  own  expense,  and  to  pay  all  the  debts  of  the  last 
monarch,  however  heavy  they  might  be,  including  the  arrears 
of  the  troops.  He  was  also  to  maintain  a  sort  of  guai'd  of 
honor,  consisting  often  thousand  Polish  horsemen. 

In  addition  to  the  embarrassment  which  these  conditions 
presented,  there  were  many  indications  of  jealousy  on  the  part 
of  other  powers,  in  view  of  the  wonderful  aggrandizement  of 
Austria.     Encouraged  by  the  emperor's  delay  and  by  the  ho» 


ACCESSION     OF     MAXIMILIAN     II.  ISl 

jility  of  other  powers,  a  minority  of  the  nobles  chose  Stephen 
Bathoii,  a  Transylvanian  prince,  King  of  Poland ;  and  to 
strengthen  his  title,  married  him  to  Anne,  sister  to  Si^mond 
Augustus,  the  King  of  Poland  who  preceded  the  Duko  of 
Anjou.  Maximilian  thus  aroused,  signed  the  articles  of  agree- 
ment, and  the  two  rival  monarchs  prepared  for  war.  The 
kingdoms  of  Europe  were  arraying  themselves,  some  on  the 
one  side  and  some  on  the  other,  and  there  was  the  prospect  of 
a  long,  desperate  and  bloody  strife,  when  death  stilled  the 
tumult. 

Maximilian  had  long  been  declining.  On  the  12th  of  Oc- 
tober, If; 76,  he  breathed  his  last  at  Ratisbon.  He  apparently 
died  the  death  of  the  Christian,  tvanquUly  surrendering  his 
spirit  to  his  Saviour.  He  died  in  the  fiftieth  year  of  his  age 
and  the  twelfth  of  his  reign.  He  had  lived,  for  those  darit 
days,  eminently  the  life  of  the  righteous,  and  his  ead  vm 
peace. 

"  So  fades  the  summer  cloud  away, 

So  sinks  the  galo  when  storms  are  ©'•r 
80  gently  shuts  the  eye  of  day, 
80  dies  a  wave  along  the  tUnon,' 


CHAPTER    XII. 

CHARACTER  OF  MAXIMILIAN  XL— SUCCESSION  OF 
RHODOLPH  III. 

From  157^  to  1604 

Obabaoteb  of  Maximilian. — His  Accomplishments. — His  Wifb. — Fatb  op  his  Can 
DBEN. — Rhodolph  III. — The  Libeett  of  Worship. — Means  of  Emancipation.— 
Ehodolph's  Attempts  against  Protestantism. — Deolaeation  of  a  hiohbb  Law, 
— Theological  Diffeeenoes. — The  Confedbeaot  at  Heilbetjn. — ^The  Gregobiah 
Oalendae.— Intolerance  in  Bohemia. — The  Trap  of  the  Monks. — Invasion  o» 
THE  Turks. — Theie  Defeat. — Coalition  with  Sigismond. — Sale  of  Transylva- 
nia.—Eulb  of  Babta. — The  Empibe  captueed  and  eeoaptuked. — Devastatiof 
of  the  Oountet. — Teeatment  of  Stephen  Botskoi. 

TT  is  indeed  refreshing,  in  the  midst  of  the  long  list  of  selfish 
■*-  and  ambitious  sovereigns  who  have  disgraced  the  thrones 
of  Europe,  to  meet  with  such  a  prince  as  Maximilian,  a  gentle* 
man,  a  philosopher,  a  philanthropist  and  a  Christian.  Henry 
of  Valois,  on  his  return  from  Poland  to  France,  visited  Maxi- 
milian at  Vienna,  Henry  was  considered  one  of  the  most 
polished  men  of  his  age.  He  remarked  in  his  palace  at  Paris 
that  in  all  his  travels  he  had  never  met  a  more  accomplished 
gentleman  than  the  Emperor  Maximilian.  Similar  is  the  tes- 
timony of  all  his  contemporaries.  With  all  alike,  at  all  times, 
and  under  all  circumstances,  he  was  courteous  and  aflEable. 
His  amiability  shone  as  conspicuously  at  home  as  abroad,  and 
he  was  invariably  the  kind  husband,  the  tender  father,  the  in- 
dulgent master  and  the  faithful  friend. 

In  early  life  he  had  vigorously  prosecuted  his  studies,  and 
thus  possessed  the  invaluable  blessing  of  a  highly  cultivated 
mind.  Fond  of  the  languages,  he  not  only  wrote  and  con- 
versed in  the  Latin  tongue  with  fluency  and  elegance,  but  was 
quite  at  home  in  all  the  languages  of  his  extensive  domains. 


OBARACTER     OP     MAXIMILIAN     11.  188 

Notwithstanding  the  immense  cares  devolving  upon  the 
i-oler  of  so  extended  an  empire,  he  appropriated  a  portion  of 
time  every  day  to  devotional  reading  and  prayer ;  and  hia 
hours  were  methodically  arranged  for  business,  recreation  and 
repose.  The  most  humble  subject  found  easy  access  to  his 
person,  and  always  obtained  a  patient  hearing.  When  he  was 
chosen  King  of  Poland,  some  ambassadors  from  Bohemia  vol- 
untarily went  to  Poland  to  testify  to  the  virtues  of  their  king. 
It  was  a  heartfelt  tribute,  such  as  few  sovereigns  have  ever 
received. 

"  We  Bohemians,"  said  they,  "  are  as  happy  under  his  gov- 
ernment as  if  he  were  our  father.  Our  piivileges,  laws,  rights, 
liberties  and  usages  are  protected  and  defended.  Not  less 
just  than  wise,  he  confers  the  offices  and  dignities  of  the  king- 
dom only  on  natives  of  rank,  and  is  not  influenced  by  favor  o* 
artifice.  He  introduces  no  innovations  contrary  to  our  immu- 
nities ;  and  when  the  great  expenses  which  he  incurs  for  the 
good  of  Christendom  render  contributions  necessary,  he  lev- 
ies them  without  violence,  and  with  the  approbation  of  the 
States.  But  what  may  be  almost  considered  a  miracle  is,  the 
prudence  and  impartiality  of  his  conduct  toward  persons  of  a 
different  faith,  always  recommending  union,  concord,  peace, 
toleration  and  mutual  regard.  He  listens  even  to  the  mean- 
est of  his  subjects,  readily  receives  their  petitions  and  renders 
impartial  justice  to  all." 

Not  an  act  of  injustice  sullied  his  reign,  and  during  his  ad- 
ministration nearly  all  Germany,  with  the  exception  of  Hun- 
gary, enjoyed  almost  uninterrupted  tranquillity.  Catholics  and 
Protestants  unite  in  his  praises,  and  have  conferred  upon  him 
the  surname  of  the  Delight  of  Mankind.  His  wife  Mary  was 
the  daughter  of  Charles  V".  She  was  an  accomplished,  exem^ 
plary  woman,  entirely  devoted  to  the  Catholic  faith.  For  this 
devotion,  notwithstanding  the  tolerant  spirit  of  her  husband, 
she  was  warmly  extolled  by  the  Catholics.  Gregory  XIIL 
called  her  the  firm  column  of  the  Catholio  &ith,  and  Pius  V 


184  THE     HOUSB     OP     AUSTRIA. 

prouounced  her  worthy  of  being  worshiped.  After  the  death 
of  her  husband  she  returned  to  Spain,  to  the  bigoted  court  of 
her  bigoted  brother  Philip.  Upon  reaching  Madrid  she  de- 
veloped the  spirit  which  dishonored  her,  in  expressing  great 
joy  that  she  was  once  more  in  a  country  where  no  heretic  was 
tolerated.  Soon  after  she  entered  a  nunnery  where  she  re- 
mained seven  years  until  her  death. 

It  is  interesting  briefly  to  trace  out  the  history  of  the  chil- 
dren of  this  royal  family.  It  certainly  will  not  tend  to  make 
one  any  more  discontented  to  move  in  a  humbler  sphere. 
Maximilian  left  three  daughters  and  five  sons. 

Anne,  the  eldest  daughter,  was  engaged  to  her  cousin,  Don 
Carlos,  only  son  of  her  uncle  Philip,  King  of  Spain.  As  he 
was  consequently  heir  to  the  Spanish  throne,  this  was  a  bril- 
Kant  match.  History  thus  records  the  person  and  character 
of  Don  Carlos.  He  was  sickly  and  one  of  his  legs  was  shorter 
than  the  other.  His  temper  was  not  only  violent,  but  furious, 
breaking  over  all  restraints,  and  the  malignant  passions  were 
those  alone  which  governed  him.  He  always  slept  with  two 
naked  swords  under  his  pillow,  two  loaded  pistols,  and  several 
loaded  guns,  with  a  chest  of  fire-arms  at  the  side  of  his  bed. 
He  formed  a  conspiracy  to  murder  his  father.  He  was  ar- 
rested and  imprisoned.  Choking  with  rage,  he  called  for  a  fire 
and  threw  himself  into  the  flames,  hoping  to  sufibcate  himself 
Being  rescued,  he  attempted  to  starve  himself  Failing  io 
this,  he  tried  to  choke  himself  by  swallowing  a  diamond.  He 
threw  off  his  clothes,  and  went  naked  and  barefoot  on  the 
stone  floor,  hoping  to  engender  some  fatal  disease.  For  eleve* 
days  he  took  no  food  but  ice.  At  length  the  wretched  man 
died,  and  thus  Anne  lost  her  lover.  But  Philip,  the  father  of 
Don  Carlos,  and  own  uncle  of  Anne,  concluded  to  take  her  for 
himself.  She  lived  a  few  years  as  Queen  of  Spain,  and  died 
four  years  after  the  death  of  her  father,  Maximilian. 

Elizabeth,  the  second  daughter,  was  beautiful.  At  sixteen 
years  of  age  she  married  Charles  IX.,  King  of  France,  who 


OHABACTBB     OF     MAXIMILIAN    II.  186 

vas  tLen  twenty  years  old.  Charles  IX.  ascended  the  throne 
when  but  ten  years  of  age,  under  the  regency  of  his  infamous 
mother,  Catherine  de  Medici,  perhaps  the  most  demoniac  fe- 
male earth  has  known.  Under  her  tutelage,  her  boy,  equally 
impotent  in  body  and  in  mind,  became  as  pitiable  a  creature  as 
ever  disgraced  a  throne.  The  only  energy  he  ever  showed 
was  in  shooting  the  Protestants  from  a  window  of  the  Louvre 
in  the  horrible  Massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew,  which  he  planned 
at  the  instigation  of  his  fiend-like  mother.  A  few  wretched 
years  the  youthful  queen  lived  with  the  monster,  when  his 
death  released  her  from  that  bondage.  She  then  returned  to 
Vienna,  a  young  and  childless  widow,  but  twenty  years  of  age. 
She  built  and  endowed  the  splendid  monastery  of  St.  Mary 
de  Angelis,  and  having  seen  enough  of  the  pomp  of  the  world, 
shut  herself  up  from  the  world  in  the  imprisonment  of  its 
cloisters,  where  she  recounted  her  beads  for  nineteen  years, 
until  she  died  in  1592. 

Margaret,  the  youngest  daughter,  after  her  father's  death, 
accompanied  her  mother  to  Spain.  Her  sister  Anne  soon  after 
died,  and  Philip  II.,  her  morose  and  debauched  husband,  hav- 
ing already  buried  four  wives,  and  no  one  can  tell  how  many 
guilty  favorites,  sought  the  hand  of  his  young  and  fresh  niece. 
But  Margaret  wisely  preferred  the  gloom  of  the  cloister  to  the 
Babylonish  glare  of  the  palace.  She  rejected  the  polluted  and 
withered  hand,  and  in  solitude  and  silence,  as  a  hooded  nun,  she 
remained  immured  in  her  cell  for  fifty-seven  years.  Then  her 
pure  spirit  passed  from  a  joyless  life  on  earth,  we  trust,  to  a 
happy  uome  m  heaven. 

Rhodolph,  the  eldest  son,  succeeded  his  father,  and  in  the 
subsequent  pages  we  shall  record  his  career. 

Ernest,  the  second  son,  was  a  mild,  bashftil  young  man,  ol 
a  tempei-ament  so  singularly  melancholy  that  he  was  rarely 
known  to  smile.  His  brother  Rhodolph  gave  him  the  appoint- 
ment of  Governor  of  Hungary.  He  passed  quietly  down  the 
stream  cf  time  until  he  was  forty-two  years  of  age,  when  ht 


186  THE     HOUSE     OF     AFSTBIA. 

died  of  the  stone,  a  disease  which  had  long  tortured  him  with 
excruciating  pangs. 

Matthias,  the  third  son,  became  a  restless,  turbulent  man, 
whose  deeds  we  shall  have  occasion  to  record  in  connection 
with  his  brother  Rhodolph,  whom  he  sternly  and  successftilly 
opposed, 

Maximilian,  the  fourth  son,  when  thirty  years  of  age  was 
elected  King  of  Poland.  An  opposition  party  chose  John,  son 
of  the  King  of  Sweden.  The  rival  candidates  appealed  to  the 
cruel  arbitration  of  the  sword.  In  a  decisive  battle  Maximil- 
ian's troops  were  defeated,  and  he  was  taken  prisoner.  He 
was  only  released  upon  his  giving  the  pledge  that  he  renounced 
all  his  right  to  the  throne.  He  rambled  about,  now  governing 
a  province,  and  now  fighting  the  Turks,  until  he  died  unmar- 
ried, sixty  years  of  age. 

Albert,  the  youngest  son,  was  destined  to  the  Church.  He 
was  sent  to  Spain,  and  under  the  patronage  of  his  royal  uncle 
he  soon  rose  to  exalted  ecclesiastical  dignities.  He,  however, 
eventually  renounced  these  for  more  alluring  temporal  hon- 
ors. Surrendering  his  cardinal's  hat,  and  archiepiscopal  robes, 
he  espoused  Isabella,  daughter  of  Philip,  and  from  the  gov- 
ernorship of  Portugal  was  promoted  to  the  sovereignty  of  the 
Netherlands.  Here  he  encountered  only  opposition  and  war. 
After  a  stonny  and  unsuccessful  life,  in  which  he  was  thwarted 
in  all  his  plans,  he  died  childless. 

From  this  digression  let  us  return  to  Rhodolph  HI.,  the 
heir  to  the  titles  and  the  sovereignties  of  his  father  the  em- 
peror. It  was  indeed  a  splendid  inheritance  which  fell  to  his 
lot.  He  was  the  sole  possessor  of  the  archduchy  of  Austria, 
King  of  Bohemia  and  of  Hungary,  and  Emperor  of  Geraiany. 
He  was  but  twenty-five  years  of  age  when  he  entered  upon 
the  undisputed  possession  of  all  these  dignities.  His  natural 
disposition  was  mild  and  amiable,  his  education  had  been  care- 
fully attended  to,  his  moral  character  was  good,  a  rare  virtue 
in  those  days,  and  he  had  already  evinced  much  industry,  em 


SUCCESSION     OP     EHODOLPH     III.  187 

erg}  and  talents  for  business.  His  father  hatl  lefl  the  finances 
and  the  internal  administration  of  all  his  realms  in  good  con- 
dition ;  his  moderation  had  greatly  mitigated  the  religious 
animosities  which  disturbed  other  portions  of  Europe,  and  all 
obstacles  to  a  peaceful  and  prosperous  reign  seemed  to  have 
been  removed. 

But  all  these  prospects  were  blighted  by  the  religious  big- 
otry which  had  gained  a  firm  hold  of  the  mind  of  the  young 
emperor.  When  he  was  but  twelve  years  of  age  he  was  sent 
to  Madrid  to  be  educated.  Philip  IT.,  of  Spain,  Rhodolph's 
uncle,  had  an  only  daughter,  and  no  son,  and  there  seemed  to 
be  no  prospect  that  his  queen  would  give  birth  to  another 
child.  Philip  consequently  thought  of  adopting  Rhodolph  aa 
his  successor  to  the  Spanish  throne,  and  of  marrying  him  to 
his  daughter.  »In  the  court  of  Spain  where  the  Jesuits  held 
supreme  sway,  and  where  Rhodolph  was  intrusted  to  their 
guidance,  the  superstitious  sentiments  which  he  had  imbibed 
from  his  mother  were  still  more  deeply  rooted.  The  Jesuits 
found  Rhodolph  a  docile  pupil ;  and  never  on  earth  have  there 
been  found  a  set  of  men  who,  more  thoroughly  than  the  Jes- 
uits, have  understood  the  art  of  educating  the  mind  to  sub- 
jection. Rhodolph  was  instructed  in  all  the  petty  arts  of 
intrigue  and  dissimulation,  and  was  brought  into  entire  sub- 
gerviency  to  the  Spanish  court.  Thus  educated,  Rhodolph 
received  the  crown. 

He  commenced  his  reign  with  the  desperate  resolve  to 
crush  out  Protestantism,  either  by  force  or  guile,  and  to  bring 
back. his  realms  to  the  papal  church.  Even  the  toleration  of 
Maximilian,  in  those  dark  days,  did  not  allow  freedom  of 
worship  to  any  but  the  nobles.  The  wealthy  and  emancipated 
citizens,  of  Vienna,  and  other  royal  cities,  could  not  establish 
a  church  of  their  own  ;  they  could  only,  imder  protection  of 
the  nobles,  attend  the  churches  which  the  nobles  sustained. 
In  other  words,  the  people  were  slaves,  who  were  hardly 
tiiought  of  in   any  state   arrangements.      The   nobles  were 


I 


188  THB     HOUSB     OF     AUSTBIA. 

merely  the  slaveholders.  As  there  was  not  difference  ol 
color  to  mark  the  difference  between  the  slaveholder  and  the 
slaves  or  vassals,  many  in  the  cities,  who  had  in  various  wayi 
achieved  their  emancipation,  had  become  wealthy  and  in- 
structed, and  were  slowly  claiming  some  few  rights.  The 
country  nobles  could  assemble  their  vassals  in  the  churches 
where  they  had  obtained  toleration.  In  some  few  cases  some 
of  the  citizens  of  the  large  towns,  who  had  obtained  emanoi- 
pation  from  some  feudal  oppressions,  had  certain  defined  po- 
litical privileges  granted  them.  But,  in  general,  the  nobles 
or  slaveholders,  some  having  more,  and  some  having  less 
wealth  and  power,  were  all  whom  even  Maximilian  thought 
of  including  in  his  acts  of  toleration.  A  learned  man  in  the 
universities,  or  a  wealthy  man  in  the  walks  of  commerce,  was 
compelled  to  find  shelter  under  the  protection  of  some  power- 
ftil  noble.  There  were  nobles  of  all  ranks,  from  the  dukes, 
who  could  bring  twenty  thousand  armed  men  into  the  field, 
down  to  the  most  petty,  impoverished  baron,  who  had  perhaps 
not  half  a  dozen  vassals. 

Rhodolph's  first  measure  was  to  prevent  the  burghers^  as 
they  were  called,  who  were  those  who  had  in  various  ways 
obtained  emancipation  from  vassal  service,  and  in  the  largo 
cities  had  acquired  energy,  wealth  and  an  air  of  independ- 
ence, from  attending  Protestant  worship.  The  nobles  were 
very  jealous  of  their  privileges,  and  were  prompt  to  combme 
whenever  they  thought  them  infringed.  Fearful  of  rousing 
the  nobles,  Rhodolph  issued  a  decree,  confirming  the  tolera- 
tion which  his  father  had  granted  the  nobles,  but  forbidding 
the  burghers  from  attending  Protestant  worship.  This  was 
very  adroitly  done,  as  it  did  not  interfere  with  the  vassals  of 
the  rural  nobles  on  their  estates ;  and  these  burghers  were 
freed  men,  over  whom  the  nobles  could  claim  no  authority. 
At  the  same  time  Rhodolph  silenced  three  of  the  most  elo- 
quent and  influential  of  the  Protestant  ministers,  under  the 
plea  that  they  assailed  the  Catholic  church  with  too  mn^  vire- 


BUCCB8SI0N     OF    BHODOLPH     111.  IW 

lence  ;  and  he  also  forbade  any  one  thenceforward  to  officiate 
as  a  Protestant  clergyman  without  a  license  from  him.  These 
were  very  decisive  acts,  and  yet  very  adroit  ones,  as  they 
did  not  directly  interfere  with  any  of  the  immunities  of  the 
nobles. 

The  Protestants  were,  however,  much  alarmed  ^j  these 
measures,  as  indicative  of  the  intolerant  policy  of  the  new 
king.  The  preachers  met  together  to  consult.  They  corre- 
sponded with  foreign  universities  respecting  the  proper  course 
to  pursue ;  and  the  Protestant  nobles  met  to  confer  upon  the 
posture  of  affairs.  As  the  result  of  their  conferences,  they 
issued  a  remonstrance,  declaring  that  they  could  not  yield  to 
such  an  infringement  of  the  rights  of  conscience,  and  that 
"  they  were  bound  to  obey  God  rather  than  man." 

Rhodolph  was  pleased  with  this  resistance,  as  it  afforded 
him  some  excuse  for  striking  a  stiU  heavier  blow.  He  de- 
clared the  remonstrants  guilty  of  rebellion.  As  a  punishment, 
he  banished  several  Protestant  ministers,  and  utterly  forbade 
the  exercise  of  any  Protestant  worship  whatever,  in  any  of 
the  royal  towns,  including  Vienna  itself.  He  communicated 
with  the  leading  Catholics  in  the  Church  and  in  the  State, 
urging  them  to  act  with  energy,  concert  and  unanimity.  He 
removed  tte  Protestants  fi-om  office,  and  supplied  their  places 
with  Catholics.  He  forbade  any  license  to  preach  or  aca- 
demical degree,  or  professorship  in  the  universities  from  being 
conferred  upon  any  one  who  did  not  sign  the  formulaiy  of 
the  Catholic  faith.  He  ordered  a  new  catechism  to  be  drawn 
up  for  universal  use  in  the  schools,  that  there  should  be  no 
more  Protestant  education  of  children  ;  he  allowed  no  town 
to  choose  any  officer  without  his  approbation,  and  he  refused 
to  ratify  any  choice  which  did  not  fall  upon  a  Catholic.  No 
person  was  to  be  admitted  to  the  rights  of  burghership,  until 
he  had  taken  an  oath  of  submission  to  the  Catholic  priest 
hood.  These  high-handed  measures  led  to  the  outbreak  of  a 
few  insurrections,  which  the  emperor  crushed  with  iron  rigor 


190  THB    HOUSE    OF    AUSTRIA. 

In  the  course  of  a  few  years,  by  the  vigorous  and  unrelenth^ 
prosecution  of  these  measures,  Rhodolph  gave  the  Oatholiofl 
the  ascendency  in  all  his  realms. 

While  the  Catholics  were  all  united,  the  Protestants  were 
shamefuUy  divided  upon  the  most  trivial  points  of  discipline, 
or  upon  abstruse  questions  in  philosophy  above  the  reach  of 
mortal  minds.  It  was  as  true  then,  as  in  the  days  of  our 
Saviour,  that  "the  children  of  this  world  are  wiser  in  their  gen- 
eration than  the  children  of  light."  Henry  IV.,  of  France, 
who  had  not  then  embraced  the  Catholic  faith,  was  anxious  to 
miite  the  two  great  parties  of  Lutherans  and  Calvinists,  who 
were  as  hostile  to  each  other  as  they  were  to  the  Catholica 
He  sent  an  ambassador  to  Germany  to  urge  their  union.  He 
entreated  them  to  call  a  general  synod,  suggesting,  that  as 
they  differed  only  on  the  single  point  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  it 
would  be  easy  for  them  to  form  some  basis  of  fraternal  and 
hai'monions  action. 

The  Catholic  church  received  the  doctrine,  so  called,  of 
iransubstantiation  /  that  is,  the  bread  and  wine,  used  m  the 
Lord's  Supper,  is  converted  into  the  actual  body  and  blood 
©f  Jesus  Christ,  that  it  is  no  longer  bread  and  wine,  but  real 
flesh  and  blood  ;  and  none  the  less  so,  because  it  does  not  ap« 
pear  such  to  our  senses.  Luther  renounced  the  doctrine  of 
tran substantiation,  and  adopted,  in  its  stead,  what  he  called 
consubstantiation  ;  that  is,  that  after  the  consecration  of  the 
elements,  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ  are  substantially  pres- 
ent with  (cum  et  sub,)  with  and  under,  the  substance  of  the 
bread  and  wine.  Calvin  taught  that  the  bread  and  wine  rep- 
resented the  real  body  and  blood  of  Christ,  and  that  the 
body  and  blood  were  spiritually  present  in  the  sacrament.  It 
is  a  deplorable  exhibition  of  the  weakness  of  good  men,  that 
the  Lutherans  and  the  Calvinists  should  have  wasted  their 
energies  in  contending  together  upon  such  a  point.  But  we 
modems  have  no  right  to  boast.  Precisely  the  same  spirit  ia 
manifested  now,  and  denominations  differ  and  strive  together 


SUCOB88IOK    OF    BBODOLPB    III.  Ml 

iip<Hi  qnestions  which  the  human  mind  can  never  settle.  Hie 
spirit  which  then  animated  the  two  parties  may  be  m&rred 
from  the  reply  of  the  Lutherans. 

"  The  partisans  of  Calvin,"  they  wrote,  **  have  accumolated 
Buch  numberless  errors  in  regard  to  the  person  of  Christ,  the 
communication  of  His  merits  and  the  dignity  of  human  nature  • 
have  given  such  forced  explanations  of  the  Scriptures,  and 
adopted  so  many  blasphemies,  that  the  question  of  the  Lord*! 
Sapper,  far  from  being  the  principal,  has  become  the  least 
point  of  difference.  An  outward  union,  merely  for  worldly 
purposes,  in  which  each  party  is  suffered  to  maintain  its  pe- 
culiar tenets,  can  neither  be  agreeable  to  God  nor  useful  to 
the  Church.  These  considerations  induced  us  to  insert  into 
the  formulary  of  concord  a  condenmation  of  the  Calvinistical 
errors ;  and  to  declare  our  public  decision  that  false  principles 
should  not  be  covered  with  the  semblance  of  exterior  union, 
and  tolerated  under  pretense  of  the  right  of  private  judgment, 
but  that  all  should  submit  to  the  Word  of  God,  as  the  only 
rule  to  which  their  faith  and  instructions  should  be  con- 
formable." 

They,  in  conclusion,  very  politely  informed  King  Henry 
rV.  himself  that  if  he  wished  to  unite  with  them,  he  must  sign 
their  creed.  This  was  sincerity,  honesty,  but  it  was  the  sin* 
oerity  and  honesty  of  minds  but  partially  disin thralled  from  the 
bigotry  of  the  dark  ages.  While  the  Protestants  were  thus 
unhappily  disunited,  the  pope  cooperated  with  the  emperor, 
and  wheeled  all  his  mighty  forces  into  the  line  to  recover  the 
ground  which  the  papal  church  had  lost.  Several  of  the  more 
enlightened  of  the  Protestant  princes,  seeing  all  their  efforts 
paralyzed  by  disunion,  endeavored  to  heal  the  schism.  But 
the  Lutheran  leaders  would  not  listen  to  the  Calvinists,  nor 
the  Calvinists  to  the  Lutherans,  and  the  masses,  as  usual, 
blindly  followed  their  leaders. 

Several  of  the  Calvinist  princes  and  nobles,  the  Lutheran! 
refusing  to  meet  witli  them,  united  in  a  confederacy  at  Heil- 


192  THB    HOLSE     OF     AUSTRIA. 

brun,  and  drew  up  a  long  list  of  grievances,  declaring  that, 
until  they  were  redressed,  they  should  withhold  the  suc- 
cors which  the  emperor  had  solicited  to  repel  the  Turks. 
Most  of  these  grievances  were  very  serious,  sufficiently  so  to 
rouse  men  to  almost  any  desperation  of  resistance.  But  it 
would  be  amusing,  were  it  not  humiliatmg,  to  find  among 
them  the  complaint  that  the  pope  had  changed  the  calendar 
from  the  Julian  to  the  Gregorian. 

By  the  Julian  calendar,  or  Old  Style  as  it  was  called,  the 
solar  year  was  estimated  at  three  hundred  and  sixty-five  days 
and  six  hours  ;  but  it  exceeds  this  by  about  eleven  minutes. 
As  no  allowance  was  made  for  these  minutes,  which  amount  to 
a  day  in  about  one  hundred  and  thirty  years,  the  current  yeai 
had,  in  process  of  ages,  advanced  ten  days  beyond  the  real 
time.  Thus  the  vernal  equinox,  which  really  took  place  on 
the  10th  of  March,  was  assigned  in  the  calendar  to  the  2l8t. 
To  rectify  this  important  error  the  New  Style,  or  Gregorian 
calendar,  was  introduced,  so  called  from  Pope  Gregory  XII. 
Ten  days  were  dropped  after  the  4th  of  October,  1582,  and  the 
6th  was  called  the  15th.  This  reform  of  the  calendar,  correct 
and  necessary  as  it  was,  was  for  a  long  time  adopted  only  by 
the  Catholic  princes,  so  hostile  were  the  Protestants  to  any 
thing  whatever  which  originated  from  the  pope.  In  their  list 
of  grievances  they  mentioned  this  most  salutary  reform  as 
one,  stating  that  the  pope  and  the  Jesuits  presumed  even  to 
change  the  order  of  times  and  years. 

This  confederacy  of  the  Calvinists,  unaided  by  the  Luther- 
ans, accomplished  nothing ;  but  still,  as  year  after  year  the 
disafiection  increased,  their  numbers  gradually  increased  also, 
until,  on  the  12th  of  February,  1603,  at  Heidelberg  they  en- 
tered into  quite  a  formidable  alliance,  offensive  and  defensive. 

Rhodolph,  encouiaged  by  success,  pressed  his  measure  ot 
intolerance  with  renovated  vigor.  Having  quite  effectually 
abolished  the  Protestant  worship  in  the  States  of  Austria,  he 
turned  his  attention  to  Bohemia,  where,  under  the  mild  gov 


SUCCBSBION     OF     BHODOLPH     III.  IM 

emment  of  his  father,  the  Protestants  had  enjoyed  a  degree  of 
liberty  of  conscience  hardly  known  in  any  other  part  of  Eu- 
rope. The  realm  was  startled  by  the  promulgation  of  a  de- 
cree forbidding  both  Calvinists  and  Lutherans  from  holding 
any  meetings  for  divine  worship,  and  declaring  them  incapaci- 
tated from  holding  any  oflScial  employment  whatever.  At  the 
same  time  he  abolished  all  their  schools,  and  either  closed  aU 
their  churches,  or  placed  in  them  Catholic  preachers.  These 
same  decrees  were  also  promulgated  and  these  same  meas- 
ures adopted  in  Hungary,  And  still  the  Protestants,  insanely 
quarreling  among  themselves  upon  the  most  abstruse  points  of 
theological  philosophy,  chose  rather  to  be  devoured  piecemeal 
by  their  great  enemy  than  to  combine  in  self-defense. 

The  emperor  now  turned  from  his  own  dominions  of  Aus- 
tria, Hungary  and  Bohemia,  where  he  reigned  in  undisputed 
sway,  to  other  States  of  the  empire,  which  were  governed  by 
thtoir  own  independent  rulers  and  laws,  and  where  the  power 
of  the  emperor  was  shadowy  and  limited.  He  began  with  the 
city  of  Aix-la-Chapelle,  in  a  Prussian  province  on  the  Lowef 
Rhine ;  sent  an  army  there,  took  possession  of  the  town,  ex- 
pelled the  Protestants  from  the  magistracy,  driving  some  of 
them  into  exUe,  inflicting  heavy  fines  upon  others,  and  abol- 
ishing entirely  the  exercise  of  the  Protestant  religion. 

He  then  turned  to  Donauworth,  an  important  city  of  B». 
varia,  upon  the  Upper  Danube.  This  was  a  P*rotestant  city, 
having  within  its  walls  but  few  Catholics.  There  was  in 
the  city  one  Catholic  religious  establishment,  a  Benedictine 
abbey.  The  Mars  enjoyed  unlimited  freedom  of  conscience 
and  woi-ship  within  their  own  walls,  but  were  not  permitted 
to  occupy  the  streets  with  their  processions,  performing  the 
forms  and  ceremonies  of  the  Catholic  church.  The  Catholics, 
encouraged  by  the  emperor,  sent  out  a  procession  from  the 
walls  of  the  abbey,  with  torches,  banners,  relics  and  all  the 
pageants  of  Catholic  worship.  The  magistrates  stopped  the 
procession,  took  away  their  banners  and  sent  them  ha*:k  to 


194  THE     HOUSE     OF     AUSTRIA. 

the  abbey,  and  then  suffered  the  procession  to  proceed.  Soon 
after  the  friars  got  up  another  procession  on  a  funeral  occa 
sion.  The  magistrates,  apprehensive  that  this  was  a  trap  tc 
excite  them  to  some  opposition  which  would  render  it  plausi 
ble  for  the  emperor  to  interfere,  suffered  the  procession  to 
proceed  unmolested.  In  a  few  days  the  monks  repeated  the 
experiment.  The  populace  had  now  become  excited,  and  there 
were  threats  of  violence.  The  magistrates,  fearful  of  the  con- 
sequences, did  every  thing  in  their  power  to  soothe  the  peo- 
ple, and  urged  them,  by  earnest  proclamation,  to  abstain  from 
all  tumult.  For  some  time  the  procession,  displaying  all  the 
hated  pomp  of  papal  worship,  paraded  the  streets  undisturbed. 
But  at  length  the  populace  became  ungovernable,  attacked  the 
monks,  demolished  their  pageants  and  pelted  them  with  mire 
back  into  the  convent. 

This  was  enough.  The  emperor  published  the  ban  of  the 
empire,  and  sent  the  Duke  of  Bavaria  with  an  army  to  execute 
the  decree.  Resistance  was  hopeless.  The  troops  took  pos- 
session of  the  town,  abohshed  the  Protestant  religion,  and  de- 
livered the  churches  to  the  Catholics. 

The  Protestants  now  saw  that  there  was  no  hope  for  them 
but  in  union.  Thus  driven  together  by  an  outward  pressure 
which  was  every  day  growing  more  menacing  and  severe,  the 
chiefs  of  the  Protestant  party  met  at  Aschhausen  and  estab- 
lished a  confederacy  to  continue  for  ten  years.  Thus  united, 
they  drew  up  a  list  of  grievances,  and  sent  an  embassy  to  pre- 
sent their  demands  to  the  emperor.  And  now  came  a  very 
serious  turn  in  the  fortunes  of  Rhodolph.  Notwithstanding 
the  armistice  which  had  been  concluded  with  the  Turks  by 
Rhodolph^  a  predatory  warfare  continued  to  rage  along  the 
borders.  Neither  the  emperor  nor  the  sultan,  had  they  wished 
it,  could  prevent  fiery  spirits,  garrisoned  in  fortresses  frowning 
at  each  other,  from  meeting  occasionally  in  hostile  encounter. 
And  both  parties  were  willing  that  their  soldiers  should  have 
enough  to  do  to  keep  up  their  courage  and  their  warlike  spirit 


SUCCESSION     OF     RHODOLPH     III.  196 

Aggression  succeeding  aggression,  sometimes  on  one  side  and 
sometimes  on  the  other,  the  sultan  at  last,  in  a  moment  of  ex- 
asperation, resolved  to  break  the  truce. 

A  large  army  of  Turks  invaded  Croatia,  took  several  for- 
tresses, and  marching  up  the  vaUey  of  the  Save,  were  opening 
before  them  a  route  into  the  heart  of  the  Austrian  States. 
The  emperor  hastily  gathered  an  army  to  oppose  them.  They 
met  before  Siseck,  at  the  confluence  of  the  Kulpa  and  the 
Save.  The  Turks  were  totally  defeated,  with  the  loss  of 
twelve  thousand  men.  Exasperated  by  the  defeat,  the  sultan 
roused  his  energies  anew,  and  war  again  raged  in  all  its  hor- 
rors. The  advantage  was  with  the  Turks,  and  they  gradually 
forced  their  way  up  the  valley  of  the  Danube,  taking  fortress 
after  fortress,  till  they  were  in  possession  of  the  important  town 
of  Raab,  within  a  hundred  miles  of  Vienna. 

Sigismond,  the  waivode  or  governor  of  Transylvania,  ao 
energetic,  high-spirited  man,  had,  by  his  arms,  brought  the 
provinces  of  Wallachia  and  Moldavia  under  subjection  to  him. 
Having  attained  such  power,  he  was  galled  at  the  idea  of 
holding  his  government  under  the  protection  of  the  Turks. 
He  accordingly  abandoned  the  sultan,  and  entered  into  a  co- 
alition with  the  emperor.  The  united  armies  fell  furiously 
upon  the  Turks,  and  drove  them  back  to  Constantinople. 

The  sultan,  himself  a  man  of  exceedingly  ferocious  charac- 
ter, was  thoroughly  aroused  by  this  disgrace.  He  raised  an 
immense  army,  placed  himself  at  its  head,  and  in  1596  again 
invaded  Hungary.  He  drove  the  Austrians  everywhere  before 
him,  and  but  for  the  lateness  of  the  season  would  have  bom- 
barded Vienna.  Sigismond,  in  the  hour  of  victory,  sold  Tran- 
sylvania to  Rhodolph  for  the  governorship  of  some  provinces 
In  Silesia,  and  a  large  annual  pension.  There  was  some  fight- 
ing before  the  question  was  fully  settled  in  favor  of  the  em- 
peror, and  then  he  placed  the  purchased  and  the  conquered 
province  under  the  government  of  the  imperial  general  Basta. 

The  rule  of  Basta  was  so  despotic  that  the  Transylvanians 


196  THB     HOUSE     OF     AUSTRIA. 

rose  in  revolt,  and  under  an  intrepid  chief,  Moses  Tzekeli,  ap- 
pealed to  the  Turks  for  aid.  The  Turks  were  rejoiced  again  to 
find  the  Christians  divided,  and  hastened  to  avail  themselves  of 
the  cooperation  of  the  disaffected.  The  Austrians  were  driven 
from  Transylvania,  and  the  Turks  aided  in  crowning  Tzekeli 
Prince  of  Transylvania,  under  the  protection  of  the  Porte. 
The  Austrians,  however,  soon  returned  in  greater  force,  killed 
Tzekeli  in  the  confusion  of  battle,  and  reconquered  the  coun- 
tay.  During  all  this  time  wretched  Hungary  was  ravaged 
with  incessant  wars  between  the  Turks  and  Austrians.  Army 
after  army  swept  to  and  fro  over  the  smoldering  cities  and 
desolated  plains.  Neither  party  gained  any  decisive  advan- 
tage, while  Hungary  was  exposed  to  misery  which  no  pen  can 
describe.  Cities  were  bombarded,  now  by  the  Austrians  and 
now  by  the  Turks,  villages  were  burned,  harvests  trodden 
down,  every  thing  eatable  was  consumed.  Outrages  were 
pei-petrated  upon  the  helpless  population  by  the  ferocious 
Turks  which  can  not  be  told. 

The  Hungarians  lost  all  confidence  in  Rhodolph.  The  big- 
oted emperor  was  so  much  engaged  in  the  attempt  to  extir- 
pate what  he  called  heresy  from  his  realms,  that  he  neglected 
to  send  armies  sufficiently  strong  to  protect  Hungary  from 
these  ravages.  He  could  have  done  this  without  much  diffi- 
culty ;  but  absorbed  in  his  hostility  to  Protestantism,  he  mere- 
ly sent  sufficient  troops  to  Hungary  to  keep  the  country  in  a 
constant  state  of  warfare.  He  filled  eveiy  important  govern- 
mental post  in  Hungary  with  Catholics  and  foreigners.  To  all 
the  complaints  of  the  Hungarians  he  turned  a  deaf  ftar ;  and 
his  own  Austrian  troops  frequently  rivaled  the  Turks  in  dev- 
astation and  pillage.  At  the  same  time  he  issued  the  moat 
intolerant  edicts,  depriving  the  Protestants  of  all  their  lights, 
and  endeavoring  to  force  the  Roman  Catholic  religion  upon 
the  community. 

He  allowed,  and  even  encouraged,  his  rapacious  generals 
to  insult  and  defraud  the  Protestant  Hungarian  nobles,  sei£ 


SUCCESSION     OF     RHODOLPH      II     .  197 

iug  their  castles,  confiscating  their  estates  and  driving  them 
into  exile.  This  oppression  at  last  became  unendurable.  The 
people  were  driven  to  despair.  One  of  the  most  illustrious 
Dobles  of  Hungary,  a  magnate  of  great  wealth  and  distinction, 
Stephen  Botskoi,  repaired  to  Prague  to  inform  the  emperor  ot 
the  deplorable  state  of  Hungary  and  to  seek  redress.  He  was 
treated  with  the  utmost  indignity ;  was  detained  for  hours  in 
the  ante-chamber  of  the  emperor,  where  he  encountered  the 
most  cutting  insults  from  the  minions  of  the  court.  The  in- 
dignation of  the  high-spirited  noble  was  roused  to  the  high- 
est  pitch.  And  when,  on  his  return  to  Hungary,  he  found  Mb 
estates  plundered  and  devastated  by  order  of  the  impma! 
goveruor,  he  was  all  ready  to  head  ao  insurrection. 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

BHODOLPH    III.    AND    MATTHIAS. 

From  1604  to  1609. 

SOSBKOi'e  Manifesto.— HoKBiBLB  SiTFFfiBiNo  in  TBANSTLVAinA.— Gharaotib  or  Bot 

eKOL— CONFIDBNOE  OP  THB   PeOTESTANTS. — SPPBESTITION  OF  BhoDOLPH. — HiS  MlS" 

no   STurrEs. — Ao<jmEKsrENra   op   Matthias.— Schemes   op   Matthias. — His   n»- 

OBBASINe     POWKE,— TeBATY    WITH    THB    TlTRKS. — DEMANDS    ON    BhODOLPH.— ThS 

CoMPBOMBE.— Peefidt  OP  MATTHIAS.— The  Maegbavite.— Fillibusteeinq.— Thh 
people's  Diet. — A  Hint  to  Royaity. — The  blooi>i.es8  Teiumph. — ^DsiiAHDe  of 

mE  ObBUANS.- ASDBBSS  OF  THB  PbINCB  OF  ANHALT  TO  TBB  KtNO. 

STEPHEN  BOTSKOI  issued  a  spirited  manifesto  to  hit 
countrymen,  urging  them  to  seek  by  force  of  arms  that 
redress  which  they  could  obtain  in  no  other  way.  "Hie  Hun* 
garians  flocked  in  crowds  to  his  standard.  Many  soldiers  de- 
serted from  the  service  of  the  emperor  and  joined  the  insur* 
reotion.  Botskoi  soon  found  himself  in  possession  of  a  force 
sufficiently  powerftil  to  meet  the  Austrian  troops  in  the  field. 
The  two  hostile  armies  soon  met  in  the  vicinity  of  Cassaa. 
The  imperial  troops  were  defeated  with  great  slaughter,  and 
the  city  of  Cassau  fell  into  the  hands  of  Botskoi ;  soon  his  vio* 
torious  troops  took  several  other  important  fortresses.  The 
inhabitants  of  Transylvania,  encouraged  by  the  success  of  Bot» 
skoi,  and  detesting  the  imperial  rule,  also  in  great  numbers 
crowded  his  ranks  and  intreated  him  to  march  into  Transylvft- 
nia.  He  promptly  obeyed  their  summons.  The  misery  of  the 
Transylvanians  was,  if  possible,  still  greater  than  that  of  the 
Hungarians.  Their  country  presented  but  a  wide  expanse  of 
ruin  and  starvation.  Every  aspect  of  comfort  and  industry 
was  obliterated.  The  famishing  inhabitants  were  compelled  tO 
ase  the  most  disgusting  auimals  for  food ;  and  when  these  were 


BHODOLPH      III.       AND     MATTHIAS.  199 

gone,  in  many  cases  they  went  to  the  grave-yard,  in  the  fren- 
oed  torments  of  hunger,  and  devoured  the  decaying  bodies  of 
the  dead.  Pestilence  followed  in  the  train  of  these  woes,  and 
the  land  was  filled  with  the  dying  and  the  dead. 

The  Turks  marched  to  the  aid  of  Botskoi  to  oxpel  the  Aus- 
trians.  Even  the  sway  of  the  Mussulman  was  prelbrable  to 
that  of  the  bigoted  Rhodolph.  Hungary,  Transylvania  and 
Turkey  united,  and  the  detested  Austrians  were  driven  out  of 
Transylvania,  and  Botskoi,  at  the  head  of  his  victorious  army, 
and  hailed  by  thousands  as  the  deliverer  of  Transylvania,  was 
inaugurated  prince  of  the  province.  He  then  returned  to 
Hungary,  where  an  immense  Turkish  army  received  him,  in 
the  plains  of  Rahoz,  with  regal  honors.  Here  a  throne  was 
erected.  The  banners  of  the  majestic  host  fluttered  in  the 
breeze,  and  musical  bands  filled  the  air  with  their  triumphal 
strains  as  the  regal  diadem  was  placed  upon  the  brow  of  Bot- 
skoi, and  he  was  proclaimed  King  of  Hungary.  The  Sultan 
Achment  sent,  with  his  congratulations  to  the  victorious  no- 
ble, a  saber  of  exquisite  temper  and  finish,  and  a  gorgeous 
standard.  The  grand  vizier  himself  placed  the  royal  diadem 
apon  his  brow. 

Botskoi  was  a  nobleman  in  every  sense  of  the  word.  He 
thought  it  best  publicly  to  accept  these  honors  in  gratitude  to 
the  sultan  for  his  friendship  and  aid,  and  also  to  encourage  and 
embolden  the  Hungarians  to  retain  what  they  had  already  ac- 
quired. He  knew  that  there  were  bloody  battles  stUl  before 
them,  for  the  emperor  would  doubtless  redouble  his  eflforts  to 
regain  his  Hungarian  possessions.  At  the  same  time  Botskoi, 
in  the  spirit  of  true  patriotism,  was  not  willing  even  to  appear 
to  have  usurped  the  government  through  the  energies  of  the 
sword.  He  therefore  declared  that  he  should  not  claim  the 
crown  unless  he  should  be  freely  elected  by  the  nobles ;  and 
that  he  accepted  these  honors  simply  as  tokens  of  the  confi- 
dence of  the  allied  army,  and  as  a  means  of  strengthening 
their  power  to  resist  the  emperor. 


iOO  THE     HOUSB     OF     AUSTBlA. 

The  campaign  was  now  urged  with  great  vigor,  and  neaiiy 
all  of  Hungary  was  conquered.  Such  was  the  first  great  di» 
aster  which  the  intolerance  and  folly  of  Rhodolph  brought 
upon  him.  The  Turks  and  the  Hungarians  wei'e  now  good 
friends,  cordially  cooperating.  A  few  more  battles  would  place 
them  in  possession  of  the  whole  of  Hungary,  and  then,  in  their 
alliance  they  could  defy  all  the  power  of  the  emperor,  and 
penetrate  even  the  very  heart  of  his  hereditary  dominions  of 
Austria.  Rhodolph,  in  this  sudden  peril,  knew  not  where  to 
look  for  aid.  The  Protestants,  who  constituted  one  half  of 
the  physical  force,  not  only  of  Bohemia  and  of  the  Austrian 
States,  but  of  all  Germany,  had  been  insulted  and  oppressed 
beyond  all  hope  of  reconciliation.  They  dreaded  the  papal 
emperor  more  than  the  Mohammedan  sultan.  They  were 
ready  to  hail  Botskoi  as  their  deliverer  irom  intolerable  des- 
potism, and  to  swell  the  ranks  of  his  army.  Botskoi  was  m 
Protestant,  and  the  sympathies  of  the  Protestants  all  over 
Germany  were  with  him.  Elated  by  his  advance,  the  Pro^ 
estants  withheld  all  contributions  from  the  emperor,  and  be. 
gan  to  form  combinations  in  favor  of  the  Protestant  ohie£ 
Rhodolph  was  astonished  at  this  sudden  reverse,  and  quite  in 
dismay.  He  had  no  resource  but  to  implore  the  aid  of  the 
Spanish  court. 

Rhodolph  was  as  superstitious  as  he  was  bigoted  and  crueL 
Through  the  mysteries  of  alchymy  he  had  been  taught  to  be- 
lieve that  his  life  would  be  endangered  by  one  of  his  own  blood. 
The  idea  haunted  him  by  night  and  by  day ;  he  was  to  be  as- 
sassinated, and  by  a  near  relative.  He  was  afraid  to  marry 
lest  his  own  child  might  prove  his  destined  murderer.  He 
was  afraid  to  have  his  brothers  marry  lest  it  might  be  a  nephew 
who  was  to  perpetrate  the  deed.  He  did  not  dare  to  attend 
church,  or  to  appear  any  where  in  public  without  taking  the 
greatest  precautions  against  any  possibility  of  attack.  The 
galleries  of  his  palace  were  so  arranged  with  windows  in  the 


BHODOLPH      III.      AND     MATTHIAS.  201l 

foof,  that  he  could  pass  from  one  apartment  to  another  shel 
tered  by  impenetrable  walls. 

This  terror,  which  pursued  him  every  hour,  palsied  his  en- 
ergies ;  and  while  the  Turks  were  drawing  nearer  to  his  capi 
tal,  and  Hungary  had  broken  from  his  sway,  and  insurrection 
was  breaking  out  in  all  parts  of  his  dominions,  he  secluded 
himself  in  the  most  retired  apartments  of  his  palace  at  Prague, 
haunted  by  visions  of  terror,  as  miserable  himself  as  he  had 
ah-eady  made  millions  of  his  subjects.  He  devoted  himself  to 
the  study  of  the  mystic  sciences  of  astrology  and  alchymy. 
He  became  irritable,  morose,  and  melancholy  even  to  mad- 
ness. Foreign  ambassadors  could  not  get  admission  to  his 
presence.  His  religion,  consisting  entirely  in  ecclesiastical  rit- 
uals and  papal  dogmas,  not  in  Christian  morals,  could  not 
dissuade  him  from  the  most  degrading  sensual  vice.  Low 
born  mistresses,  whom  he  was  continually  changing,  became 
his  only  companions,  and  thus  sunk  in  sin,  shame  and  misery, 
be  virtually  abandoned  his  ruined  realms  to  their  fate. 

Rhodolph  had  received  the  empire  from  the  hands  of  his 
noble  father  in  a  state  of  the  very  highest  prosperity.  In 
thirty  years,  by  shameful  misgovernment,  he  had  carried  it  to 
the  brink  of  ruin,  Rhodolph's  third  brother,  Matthias,  was 
now  forty-nine  years  of  age.  He  had  been  educated  by  the 
fllustrious  Busbequias,  whose  mind  had  been  liberalized  by 
study  in  the  most  celebrated  universities  of  Flanders,  France 
and  Italy.  His  teacher  had  passed  many  years  as  an  ambassa- 
dor in  the  court  of  the  sultan,  and  thus  had  been  able  to  give 
his  pupil  a  very  intimate  acquaintance  vrith  the  resources,  the 
military  tactics,  the  manners  and  customs  of  the  Turks.  He 
excelled  in  military  exercises,  and  was  passionately  devoted  to 
the  art  of  war.  In  all  respects  he  was  the  reverse  of  his 
brother — energetic,  frank,  impulsive.  The  two  brothers,  so 
dissimilar,  had  no  ideas  in  common,  and  were  always  involved 
in  bickerings. 

The  Netherlands  had  risen  in  revolt  against  the  infamous 


202  THE     HOUSE     OV     AURTRIA. 

Philip  II.  of  Spain.  They  chose  the  intrepid  aud  warlike  Mat 
thias  as  their  leader.  With  alacrity  he  assumed  the  perilout 
post.  The  rivalry  of  the  chiefs  thwarted  his  plans,  and  he  re- 
signed his  post  and  returned  to  Austria,  where  his  brother,  the 
emperor,  refused  even  to  see  him,  probably  fearing  assassina- 
tion. Matthias  took  up  his  residence  at  Lintz,  where  he  lived 
for  some  time  in  obscurity  and  penury.  His  imperial  brother 
would  neither  give  him  help  nor  employment.  The  restless 
prince  fretted  like  a  tiger  in  his  cage. 

In  1595  Rhodolph's  second  brother,  Ernest,  died  childlessi 
and  thus  Matthias  became  heir  presumptive  to  the  crown  of 
Austria.  From  that  time  Rhodolph  made  a  change,  and  in- 
trusted him  with  high  offices.  Still  the  brothers  were  no 
nearer  to  each  other  in  affection.  Rhodolph  dreaded  the  ami» 
bition  and  was  jealous  of  the  rising  power  of  his  brother. 
He  no  longer  dared  to  treat  him  ignominiously,  lest  his  brother 
should  be  provoked  to  some  desperate  act  of  retaliation.  On 
the  other  hand,  Matthias  despised  the  weakness  and  supersti- 
tion of  Rhodolph.  The  increasing  troubles  in  the  realm  and 
the  utter  inefficiency  of  Rhodolph,  convinced  Matthias  that 
the  day  was  near  when  he  must  thrust  Rhodolph  from  the 
throne  he  disgraced,  and  take  his  seat  upon  it,  or  the  splendid 
hereditary  domains  which  had  descended  to  them  from  their 
ancestors  would  pass  from  their  hands  forever. 

With  this  object  in  view,  he  did  all  he  could  to  conciliate 
the  Catholics,  while  he  attempted  to  secure  the  Protestants  by 
promising  to  return  to  the  principles  of  toleration  established 
by  his  father,  Maximilian.  Matthias  rapidly  increased  ia  popu- 
Parity,  and  as  rapidly  Rhodolph  was  sinking  into  disgrace. 
Catholics  and  Protestants  saw  alike  that  the  ruin  of  Austria 
was  impending,  and  that  apparently  there  was  no  hope  but  ia 
the  deposition  of  Rhodolph  and  the  enthronement  of  Matthias, 

It  was  not  difficult  to  accomplish  this  revolution,  and  yet 
it  required  energy,  secrecy  and  an  extended  oombiuation. 
Even  the  weakest  reigning  monarch  has  power  in  his  hand! 


BHODOLPH     III.    AND     MATTHIAS. 

which  can  only  be  wrested  from  him  by  both  strength  and 
skill.  Matthias  first  gained  over  to  his  plan  his  younger 
brother,  Maximilian,  and  two  of  his  cousins,  princes  of  the 
Styi-ian  line.  They  entered  into  a  secret  agreement,  by  which 
they  declared  that  in  consequence  of  the  incapacity  of  Rho- 
dolph,  he  was  to  be  considered  as  deposed  by  the  will  of 
Providence,  and  that  Matthias  was  entitled  to  the  sovereignty 
as  head  of  the  house  of  Austria.  Matthias  then  gained,  by 
the  varied  arts  of  diplomatic  bargaining,  the  promised  support 
of  several  other  princes.  He  purchased  the  cooperation  of  Bot* 
koi  by  surrendering  to  him  the  whole  of  Transylvania,  and  all 
of  Hungary  to  the  river  Theiss,  which,  including  Transylvania, 
constitutes  one  half  of  the  majestic  kingdom.  Matthias  agi-eed 
to  grant  general  toleiation  to  all  Protestants,  both  Lutherans 
and  Calvinists,  and  also  to  render  them  equally  eligible  with 
the  Catholics  to  all  offices  of  emolument  and  honor.  Both 
parties  then  agreed  to  unite  against  the  Turks  if  they  refused 
to  accede  to  honorable  terms  of  peace.  The  sultan,  consciona 
that  such  a  union  would  be  more  than  he  could  successfully 
oppose,  listened  to  the  conditions  of  peace  when  they  after- 
wards made  them,  as  he  had  never  condescended  to  listen  b^ 
fore.  It  is  indicative  of  the  power  which  the  Turks  had  at 
that  day  attained,  that  a  truce  with  the  sultan  for  twenty 
yeai's,  allow'ing  each  party  to  retain  possession  of  the  terri- 
tories which  they  then  held,  was  purchased  by  paying  a  sum 
outright,  amounting  to  two  hundred  thousand  dollars.  The 
annual  tribute,  however,  was  no  longer  to  be  paid,  and  thus 
Christendom  was  released  from  the  degradation  of  vassalage 
to  the  Turk. 

Rhodolph,  who  had  long  looked  with  a  suspicicus  eye  upon 
Matthias,  watching  him  very  narrowly,  began  now  to  see  in- 
dications of  the  plot.  He  therefore,  aided  by  the  counsel  and 
the  energy  of  the  King  of  Spain,  who  was  implacable  in  his 
hostility  to  Matthias,  resolved  to  make  his  cousin  Ferdinand, 
a  Styrian  prince,  his  heir  to  succeed  him  upon  the  thron* 


t04  THS     HOUSB     OF     AUSTBIA. 

He  conferred  upon  Ferdinand  exalted  dignities ;  appointed 
him  to  preside  in  his  stead  at  a  diet  at  Ratisbon,  and  i* 
sued  a  proclamation  foil  of  most  bitter  recriminations  against 
Matthias. 

Matters  had  now  come  to  such  a  pass  that  Matthias  was 
compelled  either  to  bow  in  humble  submission  to  his  brother, 
or  by  force  of  arms  to  execute  his  purposes.  With  such  an 
alternative  he  was  not  a  man  long  to  delay  his  decision.  Still 
he  advanced  in  his  plans,  though  firmly,  with  great  circum- 
spection. To  gain  the  Protestants  was  to  gain  one  half  of 
the  physical  power  of  united  Austi'ia,  and  more  than  one  half 
of  its  energy  and  intelligence.  He  appointed  a  rendezvous  for 
his  troops  at  Znaim  in  Moravia,  and  while  Rhodolph  was  tim- 
idly secluding  himself  in  his  palace  at  Prague,  Matthias  left 
Vienna  with  ten  thousand  men,  and  marched  to  meet  them. 
He  was  received  by  the  troops  assembled  at  Znaim  with  en- 
thusiasm. Having  thus  collected  an  army  of  twenty-five  thou- 
sand men,  he  entered  Bohemia.  On  the  10th  of  May,  1608, 
he  reached  Craslau,  within  sixty  miles  of  Prague.  Great  mul- 
titudes now  crowded  around  him  and  openly  espoused  hia 
cause.  He  now  declared  openly  and  to  all,  that  it  was  his  in- 
tention to  depose  his  brother  and  claim  for  himself  the  gov- 
ernment of  Hungary,  Austria  and  Bohemia. 

He  then  urged  his  battaUons  onward,  and  pressed  with 
rapid  march  towards  Prague.  Rhodolph  was  now  roused  to 
some  degree  of  energy.  He  summoned  all  his  supporters  to 
rally  around  him.  It  was  a  late  hour  for  such  a  call,  but  the 
CathoUc  nobles  generally,  all  over  the  kingdom,  were  instantly 
in  motion.  Many  Protestant  nobles  also  attended  the  assem- 
bly, hoping  to  extort  from  the  emperor  some  measures  of 
toleration.  The  emperor  was  so  frightened  that  he  was  ready 
to  promise  almost  any  thing.  He  even  crept  from  his  secluded 
apartments  and  presided  over  the  meeting  in  person.  The 
Protestant  nobles  drew  up  a  paper  demanding  the  same  tolera* 
tion  which  Maximilian  had  granted,  with  the  additional  permis 


BHODOLPH     III.     AND     MATTHIAS  90S 

iion  to  build  churches  and  to  have  their  own  burying-groundi. 
With  this  paper,  to  which  five  or  six  hundred  signatures  were 
attached,  they  went  to  the  palace,  demanded  admission  to  the 
emperor,  and  required  him  immediately  to  give  his  assent  to 
them.  It  was  not  necessary  for  them  to  add  any  threat,  for 
tiie  emperor  knew  that  there  was  an  Austrian  and  Hungarian 
&rmy  within  a  few  hours*  march. 

While  matters  were  in  this  state,  commissioners  from  Mat- 
thias ariived  to  inibrm  the  king  that  he  must  cede  the  crown 
to  his  brother  and  retire  into  the  Tyrol.  The  emperor,  in  ter- 
ror, inquired,  '*  What  shall  I  do  ?*»  The  Protestants  demanded 
an  immediate  d^laration,  either  that  he  woald  or  wonld  not 
grant  their  request.  His  friends  told  him  that  resistance  was 
unavailing,  and  that  he  must  come  to  an  accommodation.  Sdll 
the  emperor  had  now  thirty-six  thousand  troops  in  and  around 
Prague.  They  were,  however,  inspired  with  no  entbnsiaam 
for  his  person,  and  it  was  quite  doubtful  whether  they  wonJd 
fight.  A  few  skirmishes  took  place  between  the  advance 
guards  with  such  results  as  to  increase  Rhodolph*s  alarm. 

He  consequently  sent  envoys  to  his  brother.  They  met  at 
Liebau,  and  after  a  negotiation  of  four  days  they  made  a  par« 
tial  compromise,  by  which  Rhodolph  ceded  to  Matthias,  with* 
out  resorvation,  Hungary,  Austria  and  Moravia.  Matthias 
was  also  declared  to  be  the  successor  to  the  crown  of  Boh©- 
mia  should  Rhodolph  die  without  issue  male,  and  Matthias 
was  immediately  to  assume  the  title  of  "  appointed  King  of 
Bohemia."  The  crown  and  scepter  of  Hungary  were  sorren- 
dered  to  Matthias.  He  received  them  with  great  pomp  at  the 
bead  of  his  army,  and  then  leading  his  triumphant  battalions 
out  of  Bohemia,  he  returned  to  Vienna  and  entered  the  city 
with  all  the  military  parade  of  a  returning  conqueror. 

Matthias  had  now  gained  his  great  object,  but  he  was  not 
at  all  inclined  to  fulfill  his  promises.  He  assembled  the  nobles 
of  Austria,  to  receive  from  them  their  oaths  of  allegianoe. 
Bnt  the  Protestants,  taught  caution  by  k>ng  experience,  wished 


t06  THE     HOUSE    OF     AUSTRIA 

first  to  see  the  decree  of  toleration  which  he  had  promised. 
Many  of  the  Protestants,  at  a  distance  from  the  capital,  not 
waiting  for  the  issuing  of  the  decree,  but  relying  upon  his 
promise,  reestablished  their  worship,  and  the  Lord  of  Inzen- 
dorf  threw  open  his  chapel  to  the  citizens  of  the  town.  But 
Matthias  was  now  disposed  to  play  the  despot.  He  arrested 
the  Lord  of  Inzendorf,  and  closed  his  church.  He  demanded 
of  all  the  lords,  Protestant  as  well  as  Catholic,  an  uncondi- 
tional oath  of  allegiance,  giving  vague  promises,  that  perbrps 
at  some  future  time  he  would  promulgate  a  decree  of  tolera- 
tion, but  declaring  that  he  was  not  bound  to  do  so,  on  the 
miserable  quibble  that,  as  he  had  received  from  Rhodolph 
a  hereditary  title,  he  was  not  bound  to  grant  any  thing  but 
what  he  had  received. 

The  Protestants  were  alarmed  and  exasperated.  They 
grasped  their  arms ;  they  retired  in  a  body  from  Vienna  to 
Hern  ;  threw  garrisons  and  provisions  into  several  important 
fortresses ;  ordered  a  levy  of  every  fifth  man  ;  sent  to  Hun- 
gary and  Moravia  to  rally  their  friends  there,  and  with  amaz- 
ing  energy  and  celerity  formed  a  league  for  the  defense  of 
their  faith.  Matthias  was  now  alarmed.  He  had  not  antici- 
pated such  energetic  action,  and  he  hastened  to  Presburg,the 
capital  of  Hungary,  to  secure,  if  possible,  a  firm  seat  upon  the 
throne.  A  large  force  of  richly  caparisoned  troops  followed 
tim,  and  he  entered  the  capital  with  splendor,  which  he  hoped 
would  dazzle  the  Hungarians.  The  regal  crown  and  regalia, 
studded  with  priceless  jewels,  which  belonged  to  Hungary,  he 
took  with  him,  with  great  parade.  Hungary  had  been  de 
prived  of  these  treasures,  which  were  the  pride  of  the  nation, 
for  seventy  years.  But  the  Protestant  nobles  were  not  to  be 
cajoled  with  such  tinsel.  They  remained  firm  in  their  de- 
mands, and  refused  to  accept  him  as  their  sovereign  until  the 
promised  toleration  was  granted.  Their  claims  were  very 
distinct  and  intelligible,  demanding  full  toleration  for  both 
Calvinists  and  Lutherans,  and  equal  eligibility  for  Protestant* 


BHODOLPH    111.     AND    MATTHIAS.  207 

<nth  Catholics,  to  all  governmental  oflSces ;  none  but  native 
Hungarians  were  to  be  placed  in  ofl&ce  ;  the  king  was  to  reside 
in  Hungary,  and  when  necessarily  absent,  was  to  intrust  the 
government  to  a  regent,  chosen  jointly  by  the  king  and  the 
Dobles  ;  Jesuits  were  not  to  be  admitted  into  the  kingdom ; 
oo  foreign  troops  were  to  be  admitted,  unless  there  was  war 
ivith  the  Turks,  and  the  king  was  not  to  declare  war  without 
the  consent  of  the  nobles. 

Matthias  was  very  reluctant  to  sign  such  conditions,  for  he 
iras  very  jealous  of  bis  newly-acquired  power  as  a  sovereign 
But  a  refusal  would  have  exposed  him  to  a  civil  war,  with  such 
forces  arrayed  against  him  as  to  render  the  result  at  least 
donbtful.  The  Austrian  States  were  already  in  open  insur. 
rection.  The  emissaries  of  Rhodolph  were  busy,  fanning  the 
flames  of  discontent,  and  making  great  promises  to  those  who 
would  restore  Rhodolph  to  the  throne.  Intolerant  and  odiou8 
as  Rhodolph  had  been,  his  great  reverses  excited  sympathy, 
and  many  were  disposed  to  regard  Matthias  but  as  a  usurper. 
Thus  influenced,  Matthias  not  only  signed  all  the  conditions, 
but  was  also  constrained  to  carry  them  into  immediate  execu- 
tion. These  conditions  being  fulfilled,  the  nobles  met  on  the 
19th  of  November,  1606,  and  elected  Matthias  king,  and  in- 
augurated him  with  the  customary  forms. 

Matthias  now  returned  to  Vienna,  to  quell  the  insurrection 
m  the  Austrian  States.  The  two  countries  were  so  entirely 
independent  of  each  other,  though  now  under  the  same  ruler, 
that  he  had  no  fear  that  his  Hungarian  subjects  would  inter- 
fere at  all  in  the  internal  administration  of  Austria.  Matthiaa 
was  resolved  to  make  up  for  the  concessions  he  had  granted 
the  Hungarians,  by  ruling  with  more  despotic  sway  in  Austria. 
The  pope  proffered  him  his  aid.  The  powerful  bishops  of 
Passau  and  Vienna  assured  him  of  efficient  support,  and  en- 
couraged the  adoption  of  energetic  measures.  Thus  strength- 
ened Matthias,  who  was  so  pliant  and  humble  in  Hungary, 
•Bsumed  the  most  haughty  airs  of  the  sovereign  in  Aostriik 


fiOS  TBE     H0U8B     OF     AITSTBIA. 

He  peremptorily  ordered  the  Protestants  to  be  silent,  and  to 
cease  their  murmurings,  or  he  would  visit  them  with  the  most 
exemplary  punishment. 

North-east  of  the  duchy  of  Austria,  and  lying  between  the 
kingdoms  of  Hungary  and  Bohemia,  was  the  province  of 
Moravia.  This  territory  was  about  the  size  of  the  State  of 
Massachusetts,  and  its  chief  noble,  or  governor,  held  the  title 
of  margrave,  or  marquis.  Hence  the  province,  which  belonged 
to  the  Austrian  empire,  was  called  the  margraviate  of  Mo- 
ravia. It  contained  a  population  of  a  little  over  a  million. 
The  nobles  of  Moravia  immediately  made  common  cause  with 
those  of  Austria,  for  they  knew  that  they  must  share  the  same 
fete.  Matthias  was  again  alanned,  and  brought  to  terms.  On 
the  16th  of  March,  1609,  he  signed  a  capitulation,  which  re- 
stored to  all  the  Austrian  provinces  all  the  toleration  which 
they  had  enjoyed  under  Maximilian  II.  The  nobles  then,  of  aU 
the  States  of  Austria,  took  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  Matthias. 

The  ambitious  monarch,  having  thus  far  succeeded,  looked 
with  a  covetous  eye  towards  Transylvania.  That  majestio 
province,  on  the  eastern  borders  of  Hungary,  being  three  times 
the  size  of  Massachusetts,  and  containing  a  population  of  about 
two  millions,  would  prove  a  splendid  addition  to  the  Hun- 
garian kingdom.  While  Matthias  was  secretly  encouraging 
what  in  modern  times  and  republican  parlance  is  called  a 
fiUibustering  expedition,  for  the  sake  of  annexing  Transyl- 
vania to  the  area  of  Hungary,  a  new  object  of  ambition,  and 
one  still  more  alluring,  opened  before  him. 

The  Protestants  in  Bohemia  were  quite  excited  when  they 
heard  of  the  great  privileges  which  their  brethren  in  Hungary, 
and  in  the  Austrian  provinces  had  extorted  from  Matthias. 
This  rendered  them  more  restless  under  the  intolerable  bur- 
dens imposed  upon  them.  Soon  after  the  armies  of  Matthias 
had  withdrawn  from  Bohemia,  Rhodolph,  according  to  his 
promise,  summoned  a  diet  to  deliberate  upon  the  state  of  af 
fairs.     The  Protestants,  who  despised  Rhodolph,  attended  tb> 


BHODOLPH     III.     AND     MATTHIAS.  209 

diet,  resolved  to  demand  reform,  and,  if  necessary,  to  seek  it 
by  force  of  arms.  They  at  once  assumed  a  bold  front,  and 
refused  to  discuss  any  civil  affairs  whatever,  until  the  freedom 
of  religious  worship,  which  they  had  enjoyed  under  Maximil- 
ian, was  restored  to  them.  But  Rhodolph,  infatuated,  and 
ander  the  baleful  influence  of  the  Jesuits,  refused  to  listen  to 
their  appeal. 

Matthias,  informed  of  this  state  of  affairs,  saw  that  there 
was  a  fine  opportunity  for  him  to  place  himself  at  the  head  ot 
the  Protestants,  who  constituted  not  only  a  majority  in  Bohe- 
mia, but  were  also  a  majority  in  the  diet.  He  therefore  sent 
his  emissaries  among  them  to  encourage  them  with  assurances 
of  his  sympathy  and  aid.  The  diet  which  Rhodolph  had  sum- 
moned, separated  without  coming  to  other  result  than  rousing 
thoroughly  the  spirit  of  the  Protestants.  They  boldly  called 
another  diet  to  meet  in  May,  in  the  city  of  Prague  itself,  un- 
der the  very  shadow  of  the  palace  of  "Rhodolph,  and  sent  dep- 
uties to  Matthias,  and  to  the  Protestant  princes  generally  of 
the  German  empire,  soliciting  their  support.  Rhodolph  issued 
a  proclamation  forbidding  them  to  meet.  Regardless  of  this 
injunction  they  met,  at  the  appointed  time  and  place,  opened 
the  meeting  with  imposing  ceremonies,  and  made  quiet  prep- 
aration to  repel  force  with  force.  These  preparations  were  so 
effectually  made  that  upon  an  alarm  being  given  that  the  troops 
of  Rhodolph  were  approaching  to  disperse  the  assembly,  in  less 
than  an  hour  twelve  hundred  mounted  knights  and  more  than 
ten  thousand  foot  soldiers  surrounded  their  hall  as  a  guard. 

This  was  a  very  broad  hint  to  the  emperor,  and  it  surpris- 
ingly enlightened  him.  He  began  to  bow  and  to  apologize, 
and  to  asservera^ .  upon  his  word  of  honor  that  he  meant  to  do 
what  was  right,  and  fi'om  denunciations,  he  passed  by  a  single 
step  to  cajolery  and  fawning.  It  was,  however,  only  his  in- 
tention to  gain  time  till  he  could  secure  the  cooperation  of  the 
pope,  and  other  Catholic  princes.  The  Protestants,  however, 
were  not  to  be  thus  deluded.     As  unmindful   "»f  his  protests 


910  THB     HOnSS    OF    AUBTBIA. 

tious  as  they  had  been  of  his  menaces,  they  proceeded  eso* 
iutely  in  establishing  an  energetic  organization  for  the  defense 
of  their  civil  and  religious  rights.  They  decreed  the  levying 
of  an  army,  and  appointed  three  of  the  most  distinguished 
nobles  as  generals.  The  decree  was  hardly  passed  before  it 
was  carried  into  execution,  and  an  army  of  three  thousand 
foot  soldiers,  and  two  thousand  horsemen  was  assembled  as  by 
magic,  and  their  numbers  were  daily  increasing. 

Rhodolph,  still  cloistered  in  his  palace,  looked  with  amaze* 
ment  upon  this*  rising  storm.  He  had  no  longer  energy  for 
any  decisive  action.  With  mulish  obstinacy  he  would  con- 
cede nothing,  neither  had  he  force  of  character  to  marsha! 
any  decisive  resistance.  But  at  last  he  saw  that  the  hand  of 
Matthias  was  also  in  the  movement ;  that  his  ambitious,  unre 
lenting  brother  was  cooperating  with  his  foes,  and  would  inev 
itably  hurl  him  from  the  throne  of  Bohemia,  as  he  had  already 
done  from  the  kingdom  of  Hungary  and  from  the  dukedom  of 
Austria.  He  was  panic-stricken  by  this  sudden  revelation, 
and  in  the  utmost  haste  issued  a  decree,  dated  July  5th,  1609, 
granting  to  the  Protestants  full  toleration  of  religious  worship, 
and  every  other  right  they  had  demanded.  The  desj)otic  old 
king  became  all  of  a  sudden  as  docile  and  pliant  as  a  child. 
He  assured  his  faithful  and  well-beloved  Protestant  subjects  that 
they  might  worship  God  in  their  own  chapels  without  any  mo- 
lestation ;  that  they  might  build  churches ;  that  they  might  es- 
tablish schools  for  their  children  ;  that  their  clergy  might  meet 
in  ecclesiastical  councils  ;  that  they  might  choose  chiefs,  who 
should  be  confirmed  by  the  sovereign,  to  watch  over  their 
religious  privileges  and  to  guard  against  any  infringement  ol 
this  edict ;  and  finally,  all  ordinances  contrary  to  this  act  of  free 
and  fuU  toleration,  which  might  hereafter  be  issued,  either  by 
the  present  sovereign  or  any  of  his  successors,  were  declared 
null  and  void. 

The  Protestants  behaved  nobly  in  this  hour  of  bloodleas 
triumph.    Their  demands  were  reasonable  and  honorable,  and 


BHODOLPH     III.      AND     MAT  X  BIAS.  Sll 

they  sought  no  infriugement  whatever  of  the  rights  of  otherai 
Their  brethren  of  Silesia  had  aided  them  iu  this  great  achieve- 
raeut.  The  duchy  of  Silesia  was  then  dependent  upon  Bohe. 
ftiia,  and  was  just  north  of  Moldavia.  It  contained  a  popula- 
tion of  about  a  million  and  a  half,  scattered  over  a  territory 
of  about  fifteen  thousand  square  miles.  The  Protestants  de- 
manded that  the  Silesians  should  share  in  the  decree.  "  Most 
certainly,"  repUed  the  amiable  Rhodolph.  An  act  of  general 
amnesty  for  all  political  offenses  was  then  passed,  and  peace 
was  restored  to  Germany. 

Never  was  more  forcibly  seen,  than  on  this  occasion,  the 
power  of  the  higher  classes  over  the  masses  of  the  people.  In 
fact,  popular  tumults,  disgraceful  mobs,  are  almost  invariably 
excited  by  the  higher  classes,  who  push  the  mob  on  while  they 
themselves  keep  in  the  background.  It  was  now  for  the  in- 
terest of  the  leaders,  both  CathoUc  and  Protestant,  that  there 
should  be  peace,  and  the  populace  immediately  imbibed  that 
spirit.  The  Protestant  chapel  stood  by  the  side  of  the  Romish 
cathedral,  and  the  congregations  mingled  freely  in  courtesy  and 
kindness,  as  they  passed  to  and  from  their  places  of  worship.  Mu- 
tual forbearance  and  good  will  seemed  at  once  to  be  restored. 

And  now  the  several  cities  of  the  German  empu-e,  where 
religious  freedom  had  been  crushed  by  the  emperor,  began  to 
throng  his  palace  with  remonstrants  and  demands.  They,  uni- 
ted," resolved  at  every  hazard  to  attain  the  privileges  which 
their  brethren  in  Bohemia  and  Austria  had  secured.  The 
Prince  of  Anhalt,  an  able  and  intrepid  man,  was  dispatched  to 
Prague  with  a  list  of  grievances.  In  very  plain  language  he 
mveighed  against  the  government  of  the  emperor,  and  de 
manded  for  Donauworth  and  other  cities  of  the  German  empire, 
the  civil  and  religious  freedom  of  which  Rhodolph  had  de- 
prived them  ;  declaring,  without  any  softening  of  expression, 
that  if  the  emperor  did  not  peacefully  grant  their  requests, 
they  would  seek  redress  by  tbrce  of  arms.  The  humiliated 
and  dishonored  emperor  tried  to  pacify  the  prince  by  vague 


212  THE     HOU8B     OP     AUSTRIA. 

promises  and  honeyed  words,  to  which  the  prince  replied  in 
language  which  at  once  informed  the  emperor  that  the  time  for 
dalliance  had  passed. 

"I  fear,"  said  the  Prince  of  Anhalt,  in  words  which  sov- 
ereigns are  not  accustomed  to  hear,  "  that  this  answer  will 
rather  tend  to  prolong  the  dispute  than  to  tranquillize  the  united 
princes.  I  am  bound  in  duty  to  represent  to  your  imperial 
lAAJesty  the  dangerous  flame  which  I  now  see  bursting  forth 
in  Germany.  Your  counselors  are  ill  adapted  to  extinguish' 
this  rising  flame — ^those  counselors  who  have  brought  you 
into  such  imminent  danger,  and  who  have  nearly  destroyed 
public  confidence,  credit  and  prosperity  throughout  your  do- 
minions. I  must  likewise  exhort  your  imperial  majesty  to 
take  all  important  affairs  into  consideration  yourself  intreat- 
ing  you  to  recollect  the  example  of  Julius  Caesar,  who,  had  he 
not  neglected  to  read  the  note  presented  to  him  as  he  was 
going  to  the  capitol,  would  not  have  received  the  twenty 
wounds  which  caused  his  death." 

This  last  remark  threw  the  emperor  into  a  paroxysm  of 
terror.  He  had  long  been  trembling  from  the  apprehension 
of  assassination.  This  allusion  to  Julius  Caesar  he  considered 
an  intimation  that  his  hour  was  at  hand.  His  terror  was  sc 
great  that  Prince  Anhalt  had  to  assure  him,  again  and  again, 
that  he  intended  no  such  menace,  and  that  he  was  not  aware 
that  any  conspiracy  was  thought  of  any  where,  for  his  death. 
The  emperor  was,  however,  so  alarmed  that  he  promised  any 
thing  and  every  thing.  He  doubtless  intended  to  fulfill  his 
promise,  but  subsequent  troubles  arose  which  absorbed  aJl 
his  remaining  feeble  energies,  and  obhterated  past  engage- 
ments from  his  mind. 

Matthias  was  watching  all  the  events  with  the  intensest 
eagerness,  as  affording  a  brilliant  prospect  to  him,  to  obtain 
the  crown  of  Bohemia,  and  the  scepter  of  the  empire.  This 
ambition  consumed  his  days  and  his  nights,  verifying  the  ad 
age,  "  uneasy  lies  the  head  which  wears  a  crown.*' 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

RHODOLPH    III.    AND     MATTHIAS. 
From  1609  to  1612. 

lDOVI0in.TIES  A8  TO  THB  8UC0B8SI0N. — HOSTILITY    OF   HkNRT  IV.  TO  TDK  H0U8B   OF  AtTB 
TBIA. — AsSASSINAltON     OF    HbNRY    IV. — SIMILARITY    IN    SuLLY'S     AND     NAPOLEOR'i 

Plans. — Exultation  of  thb  Catholics. — The  Bbothbbs'  Compact. — How  Rho 

DOLPH  KEPT  IT. — SbIIITEB  OF  PbAOUB. — RhODOLPH  A  PRISONER. — ^ThB  KiNO'S  AB- 
DICATION.— Conditions  ATTACHED  to  the  Crown.— Ragb  of  Rhodolph. — Matthiai 
■LEOTED  Kino. — The  Emperor's  Residence. — Rejoicings  of  the  Protestants.— 
Reply  of  the  Ambassadors. — The  Nurembueo  Diet. — The  unkindbst  Cut  oi 
iLLL.— Ehodolph's  Humiliation  and  Death. 

AND  now  suddenly  arose  another  question  which  threat- 
ened to  involve  all  Europe  in  war.  ITie  Duke  of  Cleves, 
JuKers,  and  Berg  died  without  issue.  This  splendid  duchy, 
or  rather  combination  of  duchies,  spread  over  a  territory  of 
several  thousand  square  miles,  and  was  inhabited  by  over  a 
million  of  inhabitants.  There  were  many  claimants  to  the 
succession,  and  the  question  was  so  singularly  intricate  and 
involved,  that  there  were  many  who  seemed  to  have  an  equal 
right  to  the  possession.  The  emperor,  by  virtue  of  his  im- 
perial authority,  issued  an  edict,  putting  the  territory  in  se- 
questration, till  the  question  should  be  decided  by  the  proper 
tribunals,  and,  in  the  meantime,  placing  the  territory  in  the 
hands  of  one  of  his  own  family  as  administrator. 

This  act,  together  with  the  kno^vn  wishes  of  Spain  to  pre- 
vent so  important  a  region,  lying  near  the  Netherlands,  from 
felling  into  the  hands  of  the  Protestants,  immediately  changed 
the  character  of  the  dispute  into  a  religious  contest,  and,  as 
by  magic,  all  Europe  wheeled  into  line  on  the  one  side  or  the 
other.      Every  other  question  was  lost  sight  of,  in  the  all* 


t?l4  THB      HOUSE     OK    AUSIBIA. 

absorbing  one,  Shall  the  duchy  fall  into  the  hands  ot  the  Proi 
estants  or  the  Catholics  ? 

Henry  IV.  of  France  zealously  espoused  the  cause  of  the 
Protestants.  He  was  very  hostile  to  the  house  of  Austria  for 
the  assistance  it  had  lent  to  that  celebrated  league  which  for  so 
many  years  had  deluged  France  in  blood,  and  kept  Henry  IV". 
from  the  throne ;  and  he  was  particularly  anxious  to  humble 
that  proud  power.  Though  Henry  TV.,  after  fighting  for 
many  years  the  battles  of  Protestantism,  had,  from  motives 
of  policy,  avowed  the  Romish  faith,  he  could  never  forget  hie 
mother's  instructions,  his  early  predilections  and  his  old  friends 
and  supporters,  the  Protestants  ;  and  his  sympathies  were  al- 
ways with  them.  Henry  TV.,  as  sagacious  and  energetic  as 
he  was  ambitious,  saw  that  he  could  never  expect  a  more  fa- 
vorable moment  to  strike  the  house  of  Austria  than  the  one 
then  presented.  The  Emperor  Rhodolph  was  weak,  and 
universally  unpopular,  not  only  with  his  own  subjects,  but 
throughout  Germany.  The  Protestants  were  all  inimical  to 
him,  and  he  was  involved  in  desperate  antagonism  with  his 
energetic  brother  Matthias.  Still  he  was  a  formidable  foe,  as, 
in  a  war  involving  religious  questions,  he  could  rally  around 
him  all  the  Catholic  powers  of  Europe. 

Henry  IV.,  preparatory  to  pouring  his  troops  into  the 
German  empire,  entered  into  secret  negotiations  with  Eng- 
land,  Denmark,  Switzerland,  Venice,  whom  he  easily  pur- 
chased with  ofiers  of  plunder,  and  with  the  Protestant  princes 
of  minor  power  on  the  continent.  There  were  not  a  few,  in- 
different upon  religious  matters,  who  were  ready  to  engage  in 
any  enterprise  which  would  humble  Spain  and  Austria.  Henry 
collected  a  large  force  on  the  frontiers  of  Germany,  and,  with 
ample  materials  of  war,  was  prepared,  at  a  given  signal,  to 
burst  into  the  territory  of  the  empire. 

The  Catholics  watched  these  movements  with  alarm,  and 
began  also  to  organize.  Rhodolph,  who,  from  his  position  ai 
emperor,  should  have  been  their  leader,  was  a  wretched  hy 


BHODOLPH     III.     AND     MATTHIAS.  215 

pochondriac,  trembling  before  imaginary  terrors,  a  prey  to 
the  most  gloomy  superstitions,  and  still  concealed  in  the  so* 
cret  chambers  of  his  palace.  He  was  a  burden  to  his  party, 
and  was  regarded  by  tnem  witn  contempt.  Matthias  was 
watching  him,  as  the  tiger  watches  its  prey.  To  human  eyei 
it  would  appear  that  the  destiny  of  the  house  of  Austria  was 
sealed.  Just  at  that  critical  point,  one  of  those  unexpected 
eveuts  occurred,  which  so  often  nse  to  thwart  the  deepest 
laid  schemes  of  man. 

On  the  14th  of  May,  1610,  Henry  IV.  left  the  Louvre  in 
his  carriage  to  visit  his  prime  minister,  the  illustrious  Sully, 
who  was  sick.  The  city  was  thronged  with  the  multitudei 
assembled  to  witness  the  triumphant  entry  of  the  queen,  who 
had  just  been  crowned.  It  was  a  beautiftil  spring  morning, 
and  the  king  sat  in  his  carriage  wi^b  several  of  his  nobles,  the 
windows  of  his  carriage  being  drawn  up.  Just  as  the  carriage 
was  turning  up  fi-om  ihe  rue  St.  Honore  into  the  rue  Fer* 
ronnerie,  the  passage  was  found  blocked  up  by  two  carta. 
The  moment  the  carriage  stopped,  a  man  sprung  from  the 
crowd  upon  one  of  the  spokes  of  the  wheel,  and  grasping  a 
pait  of  the  coach  with  his  right  hand,  with  his  left  plunged 
a  dagger  to  the  hilt  into  the  heart  of  Henry  IV.  Instantly 
withdrawing  it,  he  repeated  the  blow,  and  with  nervous 
strength  again  penetrated  the  heart.  The  king  dropped  dead 
into  the  arms  of  his  friends,  tne  blood  gushing  from  the 
wound  and  from  his  mouth.  The  wretched  assassin,  a  fenatio 
monk,  Francis  Ravaillac,  was  immediately  seized  by  the  guard. 
With  diflSculty  they  protected  him  from  being  torn  in  piece* 
by  the  populace.  He  was  reserved  for  a  more  terrible  fate, 
and  was  subsequently  put  to  death  by  the  most  frightful  tor. 
tures  human  ingenuity  could  devise. 

The  poniard  of  the  assassin  changed  the  fate  of  Europe. 
Henry  IV.  had  formed  one  of  the  grandest  plans  which  ever 
entered  the  human  mind.  Though  it  is  not  at  all  probable 
that  bf  could  have  executed  it,  the  attempt,  with  the  immense 


815  THE     HOUSE     OP     AUSTRIA. 

means  he  had  at  his  disposal,  and  with  his  energy  as  a  warrior 
and  diplomatist,  would  doubtless  have  entirely  altered  the 
aspect  of  human  affairs.  There  was  very  much  in  his  plan  to 
secure  the  approval  of  all  those  enlightened  men  who  were 
mourning  over  the  incessant  and  cruel  wars  with  which  Eu- 
rope was  ever  desolated.  His  intention  was  to  reconstruct 
Europe  into  fifteen  States,  as  neai'ly  uniform  in  size  and  power 
as  possible.  These  States  were,  according  to  their  own  choice, 
to  be  monarchical  or  republican,  and  were  to  be  associated  on 
a  plan  somewhat  resembling  that  of  the  United  States  of 
North  America.  In  each  State  the  majority  were  to  decide 
which  religion,  whether  Protestant  or  Catholic,  should  be  es- 
tablished. The  Catholics  were  all  to  leave  the  Protestant 
States,  and  assemble  in  their  own.  In  like  manner  the  Prot- 
estants were  to  abandon  the  Catholic  kingdoms.  This  was 
the  very  highest  point  to  which  the  spirit  of  toleration  had 
then  attained.  All  Pagans  and  Mohammedans  were  to  be 
driven  out  of  Europe  into  Asia.  A  civil  tribunal  was  to  be 
organized  to  settle  all  national  difficulties,  so  that  there  should 
be  no  more  war.  There  was  to  be  a  standing  army  belonging 
to  the  confederacy,  to  preserve  the  peace,  and  enforce  its  de- 
crees, consisting  of  two  hundred  and  seventy  thousand  in- 
fentiy,  fifty  thousand  cavalry,  two  hundred  cannon,  and  one 
hundred  and  twenty  ships  of  war. 

This  plan  was  by  no  means  so  chimerical  as  at  first  glance 
it  might  seem  to  be.  The  sagacious  Sully  examined  it  in  all 
its  details,  and  gave  it  his  cordial  support.  The  cooperation 
of  two  or  three  of  the  leading  powers  would  have  invested 
the  plan  with  sufficient  moral  and  physical  support  to  render 
its  success  even  probable.  But  the  single  poniard  of  the 
monk  Ravaillac  arrested  it  all. 

The  Emperor  Napoleon  1.  had  formed  essentially  the  same 
plan,  with  the  same  humane  desire  to  put  an  end  to  intermin 
able  wars ;  but  he  had  adopted  far  r  obler  principles  of  tolera^ 
tion. 


■  eODOLPH      III.     AND     MATTHIAS,  917 

*•  One  of  my  great  plans,**  said  he  at  St.  Helena,  "  was  the 
rejoining,  the  concentration  of  those  same  geographical  nations 
which  have  been  disunited  and  parcelled  out  by  revolution  and 
policy.  There  are  dispersed  in  Europe  upwards  of  thirty  mil* 
tions  of  French,  fifteen  millions  of  Spaniards,  fifteen  millions  of 
Italians,  and  thirty  millions  of  Germans.  It  was  my  intention 
to  incorporate  these  several  people  each  into  one  nation.  It 
woulrt  have  been  a  noble  thing  to  have  advanced  into  posterity 
with  such  a  train,  and  attended  by  the  blessings  of  future  ages. 
I  felt  myself  worthy  of  this  glory. 

"  After  this  summary  simplification,  it  would  have  been 
possible  to  indulge  the  chimei-a  of  the  beau  ideal  of  civiliza- 
tion. In  this  state  of  things  there  would  have  been  some 
chance  of  establishing  in  every  country  a  unity  of  codes,  of 
principles,  of  opinions,  of  sentiments,  views  and  interests. 
Then  perhaps,  by  the  help  of  the  universal  diffusion  of  knowl- 
edge, one  might  have  thought  of  attempting  in  the  great  ha* 
man  family  the  application  of  the  American  Congress,  or  the 
Amphictyons  of  Greece.  What  \  pei-spective  of  power,  gran- 
deur, happiness  and  prosperity  woxJd  thus  have  appeared. 

**  The  concentration  of  thii-ty  or  forty  millions  of  French* 
men  was  completed  and  perfected.  That  of  fifteen  millions  of 
Spaniards  was  nearly  accomplished.  Because  I  did  not  sub- 
due the  Spaniards,  it  will  henceforth  be  argued  that  they  were 
invincible,  for  nothing  is  more  common  than  to  convert  acci- 
dent into  principle.  But  the  fact  is  that  they  were  actually 
conquered,  and,  at  the  very  moment  when  they  escaped  me, 
the  Cortes  of  Cadiz  were  secretly  in  treaty  with  me.  They 
were  not  delivered  either  by  their  own  resistance  or  by  the 
efforts  of  the  English,  but  by  the  reverses  which  I  sustained  at 
different  points,  and,  above  all,  by  the  error  I  ccmniitted  in 
transfening  my  whole  forces  to  the  distance  of  th?>:^  thou- 
sand miles  from  them.  Had  it  not  been  for  this,  thf  Span- 
ish government  would  have  been  shortly  coMclidat^'  the 
public  mind  would  have  been  ^'-nnquUin^^,  \nA  tostile  p(\*^»e9 


218  THE     HOUSK     OF     AUSTRIA. 

would  have  been  rallied  together.  Three  or  four  years  would 
have  restored  the  Spaniards  to  profound  peace  and  brilliant 
prosperity.  They  would  have  become  a  compact  nation,  and 
I  should  have  well  deserved  their  gratitude,  for  I  should  have 
saved  them  from  the  tyranny  by  which  they  are  now  oppressed, 
and  the  terrible  agitations  which  await  them. 

"  With  regard  to  the  fifteen  millions  of  Italians,  their  con- 
centration was  already  far  advanced  ;  it  only  wanted  maturity. 
The  people  were  daily  becoming  more  firmly  established  in 
the  unity  of  principles  and  legislation,  and  also  in  the  unity  of 
thought  and  feeling — that  certain  and  infallible  cement  of  hu- 
man thought  and  concentration.  The  union  of  Piedmont  to 
France,  and  the  junction  of  Parma,  Tuscany  and  Rome,  were 
in  my  mind,  only  temporary  measures,  intended  merely  to 
guarantee  and  promote  the  national  education  of  the  Italians. 
The  portions  of  Italy  that  were  united  to  France,  though  that 
union  might  have  been  regarded  as  the  result  of  invasion  on 
our  part,  were,  in  spite  of  their  Italian  patriotism,  the  very 
places  that  continued  most  attached  to  us. 

"  All  the  south  of  Europe,  therefore,  would  soon  have  been 
rendered  compact  in  point  of  locality,  views,  opinions,  senti- 
ments and  interests.  In  this  state  of  things,  what  would  have 
been  the  weight  of  all  the  nations  of  the  North  ?  What  hu- 
man eflToits  could  have  broken  through  so  strong  a  barrier  ? 
The  concentration  of  the  Germans  must  have  been  effected 
more  gradually,  and  therefore  I  had  done  no  more  than  sim- 
plify their  monstrous  complication.  Not  that  they  were  un- 
prepared for  concentralization  ;  on  the  contrary,  they  were 
too  well  prepared  for  it,  and  they  might  have  blindly  risen  in 
reaction  against  us  before  they  had  comprehended  our  de- 
signs. How  happens  it  that  no  German  prince  has  yet  formed 
a  just  notion  of  the  spirit  of  his  nation,  and  turned  it  to  good 
account  ?  Certainly  if  Heaven  had  made  me  a  prince  of  Ger- 
many,  amid  the  critical  events  of  our  times  I  should  infallibly 
have  governed  the  thirty  millions  of  Germans  combined ;  and. 


KHODOLPH      III       AND     MATTHIAS  219 

from  what  I  know  of  them,  I  think  I  may  ventme  to  affirm 
that  if  they  had  once  elected  and  proclaimed  me  they  would  not 
have  forsaken  me,  and  I  should  never  have  been  at  St.  Helena. 

"  At  all  events,"  the  emperor  continued,  after  a  moment's 
pause,  "  this  concentration  will  be  brought  about  sooner  or 
later  by  the  very  force  of  events.  The  impulse  is  given,  and 
I  think  that  since  my  fall  and  the  destruction  of  my  system,  no 
grand  equilibrium  can  possibly  be  established  in  Europe  except 
by  the  concentration  and  confederation  of  the  piincipal  na- 
tions. The  sovereign  who  in  the  first  great  conflict  shall  pin- 
cerely  embrace  the  cause  of  the  people,  will  find  himself  at  the 
head  of  Europe,  and  may  attempt  whatever  he  pleases.*' 

Thus  similar  were  the  plans  of  these  two  most  illustrious 
men.  But  fi-om  this  digression  let  us  return  to  the  afiairs  of 
Austria.  With  the  death  of  Tlenry  IV.,  fell  the  stupendous 
plan  which  his  genius  conceived,  and  which  his  genius  alone 
could  execute.  The  Protestants,  all  over  Europe,  regarded 
his  death  as  a  terrible  blow.  Still  they  did  not  despair  of  se- 
curing the  contested  duchy  for  a  Protestant  prince.  The  fall 
of  Henry  IV.  raised  from  the  Catholics  a  shout  of  exultation, 
and  they  redoubled  their  zeal. 

The  various  princes  of  the  house  of  Austria,  brothers,  un 
cles,  cousins,  holding  important  posts  all  over  the  empire,  were 
much  alarmed  in  view  of  the  peril  to  which  the  family  ascend- 
ing  was  exposed  by  the  feebleness  of  Rhodolph.  They  held 
a  private  family  conference,  and  decided  that  the  interests  of 
all  required  that  there  should  be  reconciliation  between  Mat- 
thias and  Rhodolph ;  or  that,  in  their  divided  state,  they  would 
fall  victims  to  their  numerous  foes.  The  brothers  agreed  to 
an  outward  reconciliation ;  but  there  was  not  the  slightest  miti 
gation  of  the  rancor  which  filled  their  hearts.  Matthias,  how 
ever,  consented  to  acknowledge  the  superiority  of  his  brother, 
the  pmperor,  to  honor  him  as  the  head  of  the  family,  and  to 
hold  his  possessions  as  fiefs  of  Rhodolph  intrusted  to  him  by 
fevor.    Rhodolph,  while  hating  Matthias,  and  watchiog  for  an 


820  THE     HOUSE     OF     AUSTRIA. 

oppoitunity  to  crush  him,  promised  to  regard  him  hereafter  ai 
a  brother  and  a  friend. 

And  now  Rhodolph  developed  unexpected  energy,  ming. 
led  with  treachery  and  disgraceful  duplicity.  He  secretly  and 
treacherously  invited  the  Archduke  Leopold,  who  was  also 
Bishop  of  Passau  and  Strasbourg,  and  one  of  the  most  bigoted 
of  the  warrior  ecclesiastics  of  the  papal  church,  to  invade,  with 
an  army  of  sixteen  thousand  men,  Rhodolph's  own  kingdom 
of  Bohemia,  under  the  plea  that  the  wages  of  the  soldiers  had 
not  been  paid.  It  was  his  object,  by  thus  introducing  an  ar- 
my of  Roman  Catholics  into  his  kingdom,  and  betraying  into 
their  hands  several  strong  fortresses,  then  to  place  himself  at 
their  head,  rally  the  Catholics  of  Bohemia  around  him,  annul 
all  the  edicts  of  toleration,  crush  the  Protestants,  and  then  to 
march  to  the  punishment  of  Matthias, 

The  troops,  in  accordance  with  their  treacherous  plan,  burst 
into  Upper  Austria,  where  the  emperor  had  provided  that 
there  should  be  no  force  to  oppose  them.  They  spread  them- 
selves over  the  country,  robbing  the  Protestants  and  destroy- 
ing their  property  with  the  most  wanton  cruelty.  Crossing 
the  Danube  they  continued  their  march  and  entered  Bohemia. 
Still  Rhodolph  kept  quiet  in  his  palace,  sending  no  force  to 
oppose,  but  on  the  contrary  contriving  that  towns  and  for- 
tresses, left  defenseless,  should  fall  easily  into  their  hands. 
Bohemia  was  in  a  teriible  state  of  agitation.  Wherever  the 
invading  army  appeared,  it  wreaked  dire  vengeance  upon  the 
Protestants.  The  leaders  of  the  Protestants  hurriedly  ran  to- 
gether, and,  suspicious  of  treachery,  sent  an  earnest  appeal  to 
the  king. 

The  infamous  emperor,  not  yet  ready  to  lay  aside  the  vail, 
called  Heaven  to  witness  that  the  irruption  was  made  without 
his  knowledge,  and  advised  vigorous  measures  to  repel  the  foe, 
while  he  carefully  thwarted  the  execution  of  any  such  meas- 
ures. At  the  same  time  he  issued  a  proclamation  to  Leopold, 
•ommanding  him  to  retire.     Leopold  understood  all  this  be- 


BHODOLPH      III.     AND      MATTHIAS.  821 

foiohand,  and  smiling,  pressed  on.  Aided  by  the  treason  of 
the  king,  they  reached  Prague,  seized  one  of  the  gates  mas- 
sacred the  guard,  and  took  possession  of  the  capital.  The 
emperor  now  came  forward  and  disclosed  his  plans.  The  for- 
eign troops,  holding  Prague  and  many  other  of  the  most  im- 
portant towns  and  fortresses  in  the  kingdom,  took  the  oath  of 
allegiance  to  Rhodolph  as  their  sovereign,  and  he  placed  in 
their  hands  five  pieces  of  heavy  artillery,  which  were  planted 
in  battery  on  an  eminence  which  commanded  the  town.  A 
part  of  Bohemia  ralUed  around  the  king  in  support  r^  these 
atrocious  measures. 

But  all  the  Protestants,  and  all  who  had  any  sympatl  7  with 
the  Protestants,  were  exasperated  to  the  highest  pitch.  They 
immediately  dispatched  messengers  to  Matthias  and  U  their 
friends  in  Moravia,  imploring  aid.  Matthias  immediately  start- 
ed eight  thousand  Hungarians  on  the  march.  As  they  en- 
tered  Bohemia  with  rapid  steps  and  pushed  their  way  toward 
Prague  they  were  joined  every  hour  by  Protestant  levies  pour- 
ing in  from  all  quarters.  So  rapidly  did  their  ranks  increase 
that  Leopold's  troops,  not  daring  to  await  their  arrival,  in  a 
panic,  fled  by  night.  They  were  pursued  on  their  retreat,  at- 
tacked, and  put  to  flight  with  the  loss  of  two  thousand  men. 
The  ecclesiastical  dale,  in  shame  and  confusion,  slunk  away  to 
his  episcopal  castle  of  Passau. 

The  contemptible  Rhodolph  now  first  proposed  terms  of 
reconciliation,  and  then  implored  the  clemency  of  his  indig- 
nant conquerors.  They  turned  from  the  overtures  of  the  per- 
jured monarch  with  disdain,  burst  into  the  city  of  Prague, 
surrounded  every  avenue  to  the  palace,  and  took  Rhodolph  a 
prisoner.  Soon  Matthias  arrived,  mounted  in  regal  splendor, 
at  the  head  of  a  gorgeous  retinue.  The  army  received  him 
with  thunders  of  acclaim.  Rhodolph,  a  captive  in  his  palace, 
heard  the  explosion  of  artillery,  the  ringing  of  bells  and  the 
shouts  of  the  populace,  welcoming  his  dreaded  and  detested 
rival  to  the  capital.     It  was  the  20th  of  March,  1611. 


S22  THS     BOU8£     OP     AUSTKIA. 

Tbo  nobles  commanded  Rhodolph  to  summon  a  diet.  Tftt 
humiliated,  degraded,  helpless  emperor  knew  full  well  wka^ 
this  signified,  but  dared  not  disobey.  He  summoned  a  diet. 
It  was  immediately  convened.  Rhodolph  sent  in  a  message, 
saying, 

*'  Since,  on  account  of  my  advanced  age,  I  am  no  longer 
capable  of  supporting  the  weight  of  government,  I  hereby 
abdicate  the  throne,  and  earnestly  desire  that  my  brother  Mat- 
thias may  be  crowned  without  delay.*' 

The  diet  were  disposed  very  promptly  to  gratify  the  king 
in  his  expressed  wishes.  But  there  arose  some  very  formidar 
ble  diflBculties.  The  German  princes,  who  were  attached  to 
the  cause  which  Rhodolph  had  so  cordially  espoused,  and  whc 
foresaw  that  his  fall  threatened  the  ascendency  of  Protestant 
Ism  throughout  the  empire,  sent  their  ambassadors  to  the  Bo- 
hemian nobles  with  the  menace  of  the  vengeance  of  the  eiB^ 
pire,  if  they  proceeded  to  the  deposition  of  Rhodolph  and  to 
the  inauguration  of  Matthias,  whom  they  stigmatized  as  aa 
nsnrper.  This  unexpected  interposition  reanimated  the  bopei 
of  Rhodolph,  and  he  instantly  found  such  renovation  of  youtb 
and  strength  as  to  feel  quite  aWe  to  bear  the  burden  of  the 
crown  a  little  longer ;  and  consequently,  notwithstanding  his 
abdication,  through  his  friends,  all  th<!  most  accomplished 
mechanism  of  diplomacy,  with  its  menaces,  its  bribes,  and  its 
artifice  were  employed  to  thwart  the  movements  of  Matthias 
and  his  friends. 

There  was  still  another  very  great  difficulty.  Matthias 
was  very  ambitious,  and  wished  to  be  a  sovereign,  with  sov- 
ereign power.  He  was  very  reluctant  to  surrender  the  least 
portion  of  those  prerogatives  which  his  regal  ancestors  had 
grasped.  But  the  nobles  deemed  this  a  favorable  opportunity 
to  regain  their  lost  power.  They  were  disposed  to  make  a 
hard  bargain  with  Matthias.  They  demanded — 1st,  that  the 
throne  should  no  longer  be  hereditary,  but  elective ;  2d,  thai 
the  nobles  should  be  permitted  to  meet  in  a  diet,  or  congren, 


RHODOLPH     III.     AND     MATTHIAS.  228 

io  deliberate  upon  public  affairs  whenever  and  wherever  thej 
pleased ;  3d,  that  all  financial  and  military  affairs  should  be 
left  in  their  hands ;  4th,  that  although  the  king  might  appoint 
all  the  great  officers  of  state,  they  might  remove  any  of 
them  at  pleasure ;  5th,  that  it  should  be  the  privilege  of  the 
nobles  to  form  all  foreign  alliances ;  6th,  that  they  were  to  be 
empowered  to  form  an  armed  force  by  their  own  authority. 

Matthias  hesitated  in  giving  his  assent  to  such  demands, 
which  seemed  to  reduce  him  to  a  cipher,  conferring  upon 
him  only  the  shadow  of  a  crown.  Rhodolph,  however,  who 
was  eager  to  make  any  concessions,  had  his  agents  busy 
through  the  diet,  with  assurances  that  the  emperor  would 
grant  all  these  concessions.  But  Rhodolph  had  fallen  too 
low  to  rise  again.  The  diet  spurned  all  his  offers,  and  chose 
Matthias,  tnough  he  postponed  his  decision  upon  these  ar- 
ticles until  he  could  convene  a  future  and  more  general  diet. 
Rhodolph  had  eagerly  caught  at  the  hope  of  regaining  his 
crown.  As  his  messengers  returned  to  him  in  the  palace  with 
the  tidings  of  their  defeat,  he  was  overwhelmed  with  indigna. 
tion,  shame  and  despair.  In  a  paroxysm  of  agony  he  threw 
up  his  window,  and  looking  out  upon  the  city,  exclaimed, 

"  O  Prague,  unthankful  Prague,  who  hast  been  so  highly 
elevated  by  me  ;  now  thou  spurnest  at  thy  benefactor.  May 
the  curse  and  vengeance  of  God  fall  upon  thee  and  all  Bo- 
hemia." 

The  23d  of  May  was  appointed  for  the  coronation.  The 
nobles  drew  up  a  paper,  which  they  required  Rhodolph  to 
sign,  absolving  his  subjects  from  their  oath  of  allegiance  to 
him.  The  degraded  king  writhed  in  helpless  indignation,  for 
he  was  a  captive.  With  the  foolish  petulance  of  a  spoiled  child, 
as  he  affixed  his  signature  in  almost  an  illegible  scrawl,  he 
dashed  blots  of  ink  upon  the  paper,  and  then,  tearing  the  pen 
to  pieces,  threw  it  upon  the  floor,  and  trampled  it  beneath  hia 
feet. 

It  was  still  apprehended  that  the  adherents  of  Rhodolph 


994  THB     HOUSE     OF     AUSTBIA. 

might  make  some  armed  demonstration  in  his  favor.  As  a 
precaution  against  this,  the  city  was  filled  with  troops,  the 
gates  closed,  and  carefully  guarded.  The  nobles  met  in  the 
great  hall  of  the  palace.  It  was  called  a  meeting  of  the 
States,  for  it  included  the  higher  nobles,  the  higher  olergy, 
and  a  few  citizens,  as  representatives  of  certain  privileged 
cities.  The  forced  abdication  of  Rhodolph  was  first  read.  It 
was  as  follows: — 

•*  In  conformity  with  the  humble  request  of  the  States  of 
5«r  kingdom,  we  graciously  declare  the  three  estates,  as  w^ 
as  all  the  inhabitants  of  all  ranks  and  conditions,  free  from  all 
subjection,  duty  and  obligation ;  and  we  release  them  from 
their  oath  of  allegiance,  which  they  have  taken  to  us  as  their 
king,  with  a  view  to  prevent  all  future  dissensions  and  con* 
fiision.  We  do  this  for  the  greater  secuiity  and  advantage 
of  the  whole  kingdom  of  Bohemia,  over  which  we  have  ruled 
eix-and-thirty  years,  where  we  have  almost  always  readed, 
and  which,  during  our  administration,  has  been  maintained  in 
peace,  and  increased  in  riches  and  splendor.  We  accordingly, 
in  virtue  of  this  present  voluntary  resignation,  and  after  due 
reflection,  do,  from  this  day,  release  our  subjects  from  all  duty 
and  obligation.'* 

Matthias  was  then  chosen  king,  in  accordance  with  all  the 
ancient  customs  of  the  hereditary  monarchy  of  Bohemia.  The 
States  immediately  proceeded  to  his  coronation.  Every  eft 
fort  was  made  to  dazzle  the  multitude  with  the  splendors  of 
the  coronation,  and  to  throw  a  halo  of  glory  around  the 
event,  not  merely  as  the  accession  of  a  new  monarch  to  the 
throne,  but  as  the  introduction  of  a  great  reform  in  reinstating 
the  nation  in  its  pristine  rights. 

While  the  capital  was  resounding  with  these  rejoicings, 
Rhodolph  had  retired  to  a  villa  at  some  distance  fi*om  the  city, 
In  a  secluded  glen  among  the  mountains,  that  he  might  close 
his  ears  against  the  hateful  sounds.  The  next  day  Matthias, 
fraternally  or  maliciously,  for  it  is  not  easy  to  judge  whidi 


BHODOLPH     III.      AND     MATTHIAS.  226 

motive  actuated  him,  sent  a  stinging  message  of  assumed  grat- 
itude to  his  brother,  thanking  him  for  relinquishing  in  hia 
brother's  favor  his  throne  and  his  palaces,  and  expressing  the 
hope  that  they  might  still  live  together  in  fraternal  confidence 
and  affection. 

Matthias  and  the  States  consulted  their  own  honor  rather 
than  Rhodolph's  merits,  in  treating  him  with  great  mag- 
nanimity. Though  Rhodolph  had  lost,  one  by  one,  all  his  own 
hereditary  or  acquired  territories,  Austria,  Hungary,  Bohemia, 
he  still  retained  the  imperial  crown  of  Germany.  This  gave 
him  rank  and  certain  official  honors,  with  but  little  real  power. 
The  emperor,  who  was  also  a  powerftil  sovereign  in  his  own 
right,  could  marshal  his  own  forces  to  establish  his  decrees. 
But  the  emperor,  who  had  no  treasury  or  army  of  his  own, 
was  powerless  indeed. 

The  emperor  was  permitted  to  occupy  one  of  the  palaces 
at  Prague.  He  received  an  annual  pension  of  nearly  a  mil- 
Kon  of  dollars ;  and  the  territories  and  revenues  of  four  lord- 
ships were  conferred  upon  him.  Matthias  having  consoli- 
dated his  government,  and  appointed  the  great  officers  of 
his  kingdom,  left  Prague  without  having  any  interview  with 
his  brother,  and  returned  to  his  central  capital  at  Vienna, 
where  he  married  Anne,  daughter  of  his  uncle  Ferdinand 
of  Tyrol. 

The  Protestants  all  over  the  German  empire  hailed  these 
events  with  public  rejoicing.  Rhodolph  had  been  their  im- 
placable foe.  He  was  now  disarmed  and  incapable  of  doing 
them  any  serious  injury.  Matthias  was  professedly  their 
friend,  had  been  placed  in  power  mainly  as  their  sovereign, 
and  was  now  invested  with  such  power,  as  sovereign  of  the  col- 
lected realms  of  Austria,  that  he  could  effectually  protect  them 
from  persecution.  This  success  emboldened  them  to  unite  in 
a  strong,  wide-spread  confederacy  for  the  protection  of  their 
riglits.  The  Protestant  nobles  and  princes,  with  the  most  dis- 
tinguished of  their  clergy  from  all  parts  of  the  German  em 


22(1  THB     HOUSE     OF     AUSTRIA. 

pire,  held  a  congress  at  Rothenburg.  This  great  assembly,  in 
the  number,  splendor  and  dignity  of  its  attendants,  vied  with 
regal  diets.  Many  of  the  most  illustrious  princes  of  the  em- 
pire were  there  in  person,  with  imposing  retinues.  The  em- 
peror and  Matthias  both  deemed  it  expedient  to  send  ambas- 
sadors to  the  meeting.  The  congress  at  Rothenburg  was  one 
of  the  most  memorable  movements  of  the  Protestant  party. 
They  drew  up  minute  regulations  for  the  government  of  their 
confederacy,  established  a  system  of  taxation  among  them- 
selves, made  efficient  arrangements  for  the  levying  of  troops, 
established  arsenals  and  magazines,  and  strongly  garrisoned  a 
fortress,  to  be  the  nucleus  of  their  gathering  should  they  at 
any  time  be  compelled  to  appeal  to  arms. 

Rhodolph,  through  his  ambassadors,  appeared  before  this 
resplendent  assembly  the  mean  and  miserable  sycophant  he 
ever  was  in  days  of  disaster.  He  was  so  silly  as  to  try  to  win 
them  again  to  his  cause.  He  coaxed  and  made  the  most  lib- 
eral promises,  but  all  in  vain.  Their  reply  was  indignant  and 
decisive,  yet  dignified. 

"  We  have  too  long,"  they  replied,  "  been  duped  by  spe- 
cious and  deceitful  promises.  We  now  demand  actions,  not 
words.  Let  the  emperor  show  us  by  the  acts  of  his  adminis- 
tration that  his  spirit  is  changed,  and  then,  and  then  only, 
can  we  confide  in  him." 

Matthias  was  still  apprehensive  that  the  emperor  migbt 
rally  the  Catholic  forces  of  Germany,  and  in  union  with  the 
pope  and  the  formidable  power  of  the  Spanish  court,  make  an 
attempt  to  recover  his  Bohemian  throne.  It  was  manifest  that 
with  any  energy  of  character,  Rhodolph  might  combine  Catho 
lie  Europe,  and  inundate  the  plains  of  Germany  with  blood. 
While  it  was  very  important,  therefore,  that  Matthias  should 
do  every  thing  he  could  to  avoid  exasperating  the  Catholics, 
it  was  essential  to  his  cause  that  he  should  rally  around  him 
the  sympathies  of  the  Protestants. 

The  ambassadors  of  Matthias  respectfully  announced  to  the 


BBODOLPH    III.    AND    VATFHIAS.  997 

congress  the  events  which  had  transpired  in  Bohemia  in  the 
transference  of  the  crown,  and  solicited  the  support  of  tLe 
congress.  The  Protestant  princes  received  this  communication 
with  satisfaction,  promised  their  support  in  case  it  should  be 
needed,  and,  conscious  of  the  danger  of  provoking  Rhodolph 
to  any  desperate  efibrts  to  rouse  the  Catholics,  recommended 
that  he  should  be  treated  with  brotherly  kindness,  and,  at  the 
same  time,  watched  with  a  vigilant  eye. 

Rhodolph,  disappointed  here,  summoned  an  electoral  meet- 
ing of  the  empire,  to  be  held  at  Nuremburg  on  the  14th  of 
December,  1711.  He  hoped  that  a  majority  of  the  electors 
would  be  his  friends.  Before  this  body  he  presented  a  very 
pathetic  account  of  his  grievances,  delineating  in  most  melan- 
choly colors  the  sorrows  which  attend  fallen  grandeur.  He 
detailed  his  privations  and  necessities,  the  straits  to  which  he 
was  reduced  by  poverty,  his  utter  inability  to  maintain  a  state 
befitting  the  imperial  dignity,  and  implored  them,  with  the 
eloquence  of  a  Neapolitan  mendicant,  to  grant  him  a  suitable 
establishment,  and  not  to  abandon  him,  in  his  old  age,  to  pen- 
ury and  dishonor. 

The  reply  of  the  electors  to  the  dispirited,  degraded,  down- 
trodden old  monarch  was  the  unkindest  cut  of  all.  Much  as 
Rhodolph  is  to  be  execrated  and  despised,  one  can  hardly  re- 
frain from  an  emotion  of  sympathy  in  view  of  this  new  blow 
which  fell  upon  him.  A  deputation  sent  from  the  electoral 
college  met  him  in  his  palace  at  Prague.  Mercilessly  they  re- 
capitulated most  of  the  complaints  which  the  Protestants  had 
brought  against  him,  declined  rendering  him  any  pecuniary 
reUef,  and  requested  him  to  nominate  some  one  to  be  chosen 
as  his  successor  on  the  imperial  throne. 

"  The  emperor,"  said  the  delegation  in  conclusion,  "  is  him- 
self the  principal  author  of  his  own  distresses  and  misfortunes. 
The  contempt  into  which  he  has  fallen  and  the  disgrace  which, 
through  him,  is  reflected  upon  the  empire,  is  derived  from  his 
own  indolence  and  his  obstinacy  in  following  perverse  counsels. 


S28  THE     HOUSE     OF     AUSTRIA. 

He  might  have  escaped  all  these  calamities  if,  instead  of  re- 
signing himself  to  corrupt  and  interested  ministers,  he  haci 
followed  the  salutary  counsels  of  the  electors." 

They  closed  this  overwhelming  announcement  by  demand- 
ing the  immediate  assembling  of  a  diet  to  elect  an  emperor 
to  succeed  him  on  the  throne  of  Germany.  Rhodolph,  not  yet 
quite  sufficiently  humiliated  to  officiate  as  his  own  executioner, 
though  he  promised  to  summon  a  diet,  evaded  the  fulfillment 
of  his  promise.  The  electors,  not  disposed  to  dally  with  him 
at  all,  called  the  assembly  by  their  own  authority  to  meet  od 
the  31st  of  May. 

This  seemed  to  be  the  finishing  blow.  Rhodolph,  now 
fflxty  years  of  age,  enfeebled  and  emaciated  by  disease  and 
melancholy,  threw  himself  upon  his  bed  to  die.  Death,  so 
often  invoked  in  vain  by  the  miserable,  came  to  his  aid.  He 
welcomed  its  approach.     To  those  around  his  bed  he  remarked, 

"  When  a  youth,  I  experienced  the  most  exquisite  pleas- 
ure in  returning  from  Spain  to  my  native  country.  How  much 
more  joyful  ought  I  to  be  when  I  am  about  to  be  delivered 
from  the  calamities  of  human  nature,  and  transferred  to  a 
heavenly  country  where  there  is  no  change  of  time,  and  where 
no  sorrow  can  enter  !" 

In  the  tomb  let  him  be  forgottea. 


CHAPTER    XV. 

MATTHIAS. 
Peom  1612  TO  1619. 

MatibUlB  ■lmtbo  Empkbob  or  Obbmast.— His  dbspotio  OHAaAonBL— Hb  P&AM 

THWABTED. — Mttlhedl — Gathbrinq  Clofds. — Family  IirrBisirs. — Ooboicatiok  or 
Fbbdinanb. — His  Bisotbt.— Hbnbt,  Comrr  of  Thitbn. — OomrENrioif  at  Pba»0& 
—Tub  King's  Ebply.— The  Die  oast.— Amusing  Defense  op  ak  Odtbagb. — Pis- 
dinanb's  Manifesto. — SKituRE  of  Caedinal  Klesbs. — Th«  Kino's  Basb. — B^ 
tbbat  of  the  Kino's  Tboops.— HuiauATtoN  or  FsBDiHAin).— Th>  DiFnoiTum 
kefebbed.— Dbath  of  Matthias. 

UPON  the  death  of  Rhodolpb,  Matthias  promptly  offered 
himself  as  a  candidate  for  the  imperial  crown.  But  the 
Catholics,  suspicious  of  Matthias,  in  consequence  of  his  con* 
nection  with  the  Protestants,  centered  upon  the  Archduke 
Albert,  sovereign  of  the  Netherlands,  as  their  candidate.  Many 
of  the  Protestants,  also,  jealous  of  the  vast  power  Matthias  was 
attaining,  and  not  having  full  confidence  in  his  integrity,  offered 
their  suflfrages  to  Maximilian,  the  younger  brother  of  Matthias. 
But  notwithstanding  this  want  of  unanimity,  political  intrigue 
removed  all  difficulties  and  Matthias  was  unanimously  elected 
Emperor  of  Germany. 

The  new  emperor  was  a  man  of  renown.  His  wonderful 
achievements  had  arrested  the  attention  of  Europe,  and  it  was 
expected  that  in  his  hands  the  administration  of  the  empire 
would  be  conducted  with  almost  unprecedented  skill  Mid  vigor. 
But  clouds  and  storms  immediately  began  to  lower  around  the 
throne.  Matthias  had  no  spirit  of  toleration  in  his  heart,  and 
every  tolerant  act  he  had  assented  to,  had  been  extorted  from 
him.  He  was,  by  nature,  a  despot,  and  most  reluctantly,  for 
the  sake  of  grasping  the  reins  of  power,  he  had  refinquished 


280  THE     HOUSE     or     AU8TBIA. 

a  few  of  the  royal  prerogatives.  He  had  thus  far  evaded  many 
of  the  claims  which  had  been  made  upon  him,  and  which  ha 
had  partially  promised  to  grant,  and  now,  being  both  king  and 
emperor,  he  was  disposed  to  grasp  all  power,  both  secular  and 
religious,  which  he  could  attain. 

Matthias's  first  endeavor  was  to  recover  Transylvania.  This 
province  had  fallen  into  the  hands  of  Gabriel  Bethlehem,  who 
was  under  the  jsrotection  of  the  Turks.  Matthias,  thinking 
that  a  war  with  the  infidel  would  be  popular,  summoned  a 
diet  and  solicited  succors  to  drive  the  Turks  from  Moldavia 
and  Wallachia,  where  they  had  recently  established  themselves. 
The  Protestants,  however,  presented  a  list  of  grievances  which 
they  wished  to  have  redressed  before  they  listened  to  his  re- 
quest. The  Catholics,  on  the  other  hand,  presented  a  list  of 
their  grievances,  which  consisted,  mainly,  in  privileges  granted 
the  Protestants,  which  they  also  demanded  to  have  redressed 
before  they  could  vote  any  supplies  to  the  emperor.  These 
demands  were  so  diametrically  hostile  to  each  other,  that  there 
could  be  no  reconciliation.  After  an  angry  debate  the  diet 
broke  up  in  confusion,  having  accomplished  nothing. 

Matthias,  disappointed  in  this  endeavor,  now  applied  to  the 
several  States  of  his  widely  extended  Austrian  domains — to 
his  own  subjects.  A  general  assembly  was  convened  at  Lintz. 
Matthias  proposed  his  plans,  urging  the  impolicy  of  allowing 
the  Turks  to  retain  the  conquered  provinces,  and  to  remain  in 
the  ascendency  in  Transylvania.  But  here  again  Matthias  was 
disappointed.  The  Bohemian  Protestants  were  indignant  in 
view  of  some  restrictions  upon  their  worship,  imposed  by  the 
emperor  to  please  the  Catholics.  The  Hungarians,  weary  of 
the  miseries  of  war,  were  disposed  on  any  terms  to  seek  peace 
with  the  Turks.  The  Austrians  had  already  expended  an  im- 
mense amount  of  blood  and  money  on  the  battle-fields  of  Hun- 
gary, and  urged  the  emperor  to  send  an  ambassador  to  treat 
for  peace.  Matthias  was  excessively  annoyed  in  being  thug 
thwarted  in  all  his  plans. 


MATTBIAS.  881 

Jast  at  this  time  a  Turkish  envoy  arrived  at  Vienna,  pro- 
posing a  truce  for  twenty  years.  The  Turks  bad  never  before 
condescended  to  send  an  embassage  to  a  Christian  power. 
This  aflforded  Matthias  an  honorable  pretext  for  abandomng 
bis  warlike  plan,  and  the  truce  was  agreed  to. 

The  incessant  conflict  between  the  Catholics  and  Protes- 
tants allowed  Germany  no  repose.  A  sincere  toleration,  such 
as  existed  during  the  reign  of  Maximilian  I.,  established  fi*a> 
temal  feelings  between  the  contending  parties.  But  it  re» 
qnired  ages  of  suffering  and  peculiar  combination  of  oircum- 
stances,  to  lead  the  king  and  the  nobles  to  a  cordial  consent  to 
that  toleration.  But  the  bigotry  of  Rhodolph  and  the  triofc 
ery  of  Matthias,  had  so  exasperated  the  parties,  and  rendered 
them  so  suspicious  of  each  other,  that  the  emperor,  even  had 
he  been  so  disposed,  conld  not,  but  by  very  slow  and  gradual 
steps,  have  secured  reconciliation.  Rnodolph  had  put  what 
was  called  the  ban  of  the  empiie  upon  the  Protestant  city  of 
Aix-la-Chapelle,  removing  the  Protestants  from  the  magistracy, 
and  banishing  their  chiefs  from  the  city.  When  Rhodolph 
was  sinking  into  disgrace  and  had  lost  his  power,  the  Protes* 
tants,  being  in  the  majority,  took  up  arms,  reelected  their 
magistracy,  and  expelled  the  Jesuits  from  the  city.  The 
Catholics  now  appealed  to  Matthias,  and  he  insanely  revived 
the  ban  against  the  Protestants,  and  commissioned  Albert, 
Archduke  of  Cologne,  a  bigoted  Catholic,  to  march  with  an 
army  to  Aix-la-Chapelle  and  enforce  its  execution. 

Opposite  Cologne,  on  the  Rhine,  the  Protestants,  in  the 
days  of  bitter  persecution,  had  established  the  town  of  Mul- 
heim.  Several  of  the  neighboring  Protestant  princes  defended 
with  their  arms  the  refugees  who  settled  there  from  all  parts 
of  Germany.  The  town  was  strongly  fortified,  and  here  the 
Protestants,  with  arms  in  their  hands,  maintained  perfect  free- 
dom of  religious  worship.  The  city  grew  rapidly  and  became 
one  of  the  most  important  fortresses  upon  the  river.  The 
Catholics,  jealous  of  its  growing  power,  appealed  to  the  enk 


982  THE     HOUSE     OF     AUSTRIA. 

peror.  He  issued  a  decree  ordering  the  Protestants  to  demol« 
ish  every  fortification  of  the  place  within  thirty  days ;  and  to 
put  up  no  more  buildings  whatever. 

These  decrees  were  both  enforced  by  the  aid  of  a  Spanish 
army  of  thirty  thousand  men,  which,  having  executed  the  ban, 
descended  the  river  and  captured  several  others  of  the  most 
important  of  the  Protestant  towns.  Of  course  all  Germany 
was  in  a  ferment.  Everywhere  was  heard  the  clashing  of 
arms,  and  every  thing  indicated  the  immediate  outburst  of  civil 
war.  Matthias  was  in  great  perplexity,  and  his  health  rap- 
idly failed  beneath  the  burden  of  care  and  sorrow.  All  the 
thoughts  of  Matthias  were  now  turned  to  the  retaining  of  the 
triple  crown  of  BcJhemia,  Hungary  and  the  empire,  in  the 
family.  Matthias  was  old,  sick  and  childless.  Maximilian,  his 
next  brother,  was  fifty-nine  years  of  age  and  unmarried.  The 
next  brother,  Albert,  was  fifty-eight,  and  without  children. 
Neither  of  the  brothers  could  consequently  receive  the  crowns 
with  any  hope  of  retaining  them  in  the  family.  Matthias 
turned  to  his  cousin  Ferdinand,  head  of  the  Styrian  branch  of 
the  family,  as  the  nearest  relative  who  was  Hkely  to  continue 
the  succession.  In  accordance  with  the  custom  which  had 
grown  up,  Matthias  wished  to  nominate  his  successor,  and 
have  him  recognized  and  crowned  before  his  death,  so  that  im 
mediately  upon  his  death  the  new  sovereign,  already  crowned, 
could  enter  upon  the  government  without  any  interregnum. 

The  brothers,  appreciating  the  importance  of  retaining  the 
crown  in  the  family,  and  conscious  that  all  the  united  influ- 
ence they  then  possessed  was  essential  to  securing  that  re- 
sult, assented  to  the  plan,  and  cooi3erated  in  the  nomination 
of  F'erdinand.  All  the  arts  of  diplomatic  intrigue  were  called 
into  requisition  to  attain  these  important  ends.  The  Bo- 
hemian crown  was  now  electoral ;  and  it  was  necessary  to 
persuade  the  electors  to  choose  Ferdinand,  one  of  the  most 
intolerant  Catholics  who  ever  swayed  a  scepter.  The  crown 
of  Hungary  was  nominally  hereditary.     But  the  turbulent 


MATTHIAS.  289 

nobles,  ever  armed,  and  strong  in  their  fortresses,  would  ac 
oept  no  monarch  whom  they  did  not  approve.  To  secure 
also  the  electoral  vote  for  Emperor  of  Germany,  while  par- 
ties were  so  divided  and  so  bitterly  hostile  to  each  other,  re* 
quired  the  most  adroit  application  of  bi'ibes  and  menaces. 

Matthias  made  his  first  movement  in  Bohemia.  Having 
adopted  previous  measures  to  gain  the  support  of  the  prin 
cipal  nobles,  he  summoned  a  diet  at  Prague,  which  he  at- 
tended in  person,  accompanied  by  Ferdinand.  In  a  brief 
speech  he  thus  addressed  them. 

"  As  I  and  my  brothers,"  said  the  king,  "  are  without  chil. 
iren,  I  deem  it  necessary,  for  the  advantage  of  Bohemia, 
and  to  prevent  future  contests,  that  my  cousin  Ferdinand 
should  be  proclaimed  and  crowned  king.  I  therefore  request 
you  to  fix  a  day  for  the  confirmation  of  this  appointment." 

Some  of  the  leading  Protestants  opposed  this,  on  the 
ground  of  the  known  intolerance  of  Ferdinand.  But  the 
majority,  either  won  over  by  the  arts  of  Matthias,  or  dread- 
ing civil  war,  accepted  Ferdinand.  He  was  crowned  on  the 
10th  of  June,  1616,  he  promising  not  to  mterfere  with  the 
government  during  the  lifetime  of  Matthias.  The  emperor 
now  turned  to  Hungary,  and,  by  the  adoption  of  the  same 
measures,  secured  the  same  results.  The  nobles  accepted 
Ferdinand,  and  he  was  solemnly  crowned  at  Presburg. 

Ferdinand  was  Archduke  of  Styria,  a  province  of  Austria 
embracing  a  little  more  than  eight  thousand  square  miles, 
being  about  the  size  of  the  State  of  Massachusetts,  and  con- 
tiling  about  a  million  of  inhabitants.  He  was  educated  by 
the  Jesuits  after  the  strictest  manner  of  their  religion.  He 
became  so  thoroughly  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  his  monastio 
education,  that  he  was  anxious  to  assume  the  cowl  of  the 
monk,  and  enter  the  order  of  the  Jesuits  His  devotion  to 
the  papal  church  assumed  the  aspect  of  the  most  inflexible 
intolerance  towards  all  dissent.  In  the  administration  of  the 
government  of  his  own  duchy,  he  had  given  fr^e  s\ving  tc 


884  THE     HOUSE     OF     AUSTRIA, 

his  bigotry.  Marshaling  his  troops,  he  had  driven  all  the 
Protestant  preachers  from  his  domains.  He  had  made  a  pil- 
grimage to  Rome,  to  receive  the  benediction  of  the  pope,  and 
another  to  Loretto,  where,  prostrating  himself  before  the  mi- 
raculous image,  he  vowed  never  to  cease  his  exertions  until 
he  had  extirpated  all  ueresy  from  his  territories.  He  often 
declared  that  he  would  beg  his  bread  from  door  to  door,  sub- 
mit to  every  insult,  to  every  calamity,  sacrifice  nven  life  itself 
rather  than  suffer  the  true  Church  to  be  injureci.  Ferdinand 
was  no  time-server — no  hypocrite.  He  was  a  genuine  bigot, 
sincere  and  conscientious.  Animated  by  this  spirit,  although 
two  thirds  of  the  inhabitants  of  Styria  were  Protestants,  he 
banished  all  their  preachers,  professors  and  schoolmasters; 
closed  their  clurches,  seminaries  and  schools ;  even  tore  down 
the  churches  and  school-houses ;  multiplied  papal  institutions, 
and  called  in  teachers  and  preachers  from  other  States. 

Matthias  and  Ferdinand  now  seemed  jointly  to  reign,  and 
the  Protestants  were  soon  alarmed  by  indications  that  a  new 
spirit  was  animating  the  councils  of  the  sovereign.  The  most 
inflexible  Catholics  were  received  as  the  friends  and  advisers 
of  the  king.  The  Jesuits  loudly  exulted,  declaring  that  heresy 
was  no  longer  to  be  tolerated.  Banishments  and  confiscar 
tions  were  talked  of,. and  the  alarm  of  the  Protestants  became 
hitense  and  universal :  they  looked  forward  to  the  commence- 
ment of  the  reign  of  Ferdinand  with  terror. 

As  was  to  be  expected,  such  wrongs  and  perils  called  out 
an  avenger.  Matthew  Henry,  Count  of  Thurn,  was  one  of 
the  most  illustrious  and  wealthy  of  the  Bohemian  nobles.  He 
had  long  been  a  warm  advocate  of  the  doctrines  of  the  Refor- 
mation ;  and  having,  in  the  wars  with  the  Turks,  acquired  a 
great  reputation  for  military  capacity  and  courage,  and  being 
also  a  man  of  great  powers  of  eloquence,  and  of  exceedingly 
popular  manners,  he  had  become  quite  the  idol  of  the  Prot* 
estant  party.  He  had  zealously  opposed  the  election  of  Fer- 
dinand to  the  throne  of  Bohemia,  and  had  thus  increased  that 


MATTHIAS  286 

jealousy  and  dislike'with  which  both  Matthias  and  Ferdinand 
had  previously  regarded  so  formidable  an  opponent.  lie  was, 
in  consequence,  very  summarily  deprived  of  some  very  im- 
port-ant dignities.  This  roused  his  impetuous  spirit,  and  caused 
the  Protestants  more  confidingly  to  rally  around  him  as  a 
martyr  to  their  cause. 

The  Count  of  Thurn,  as  prudent  as  he  was  bold,  as  dehb- 
erate  as  he  was  energetic,  aware  of  the  fearful  hazard  of  en- 
tering into  hostilities  with  the  sovereign  who  was  at  the 
same  time  king  of  all  the  Austrian  realms,  and  Emperor  of 
Germany,  conferred  with  the  leading  Protestant  princes,  and 
organized  a  confederacy  so  strong  that  all  the  energies  ot 
the  empire  could  with  diificulty  crush  it.  They  were  not  dis- 
posed to  make  any  aggressive  movements,  but  to  defend  their 
rights  if  assailed.  The  inhabitants  of  a  town  in  the  vicinity 
of  Prague  began  to  erect  a  church  for  Protestant  worship. 
The  Roman  Catholic  bishop,  who  presided  over  that  diocese, 
forbade  them  to  proceed.  They  plead  a  royal  edict,  which 
authorized  them  to  erect  the  church,  and  continued  their 
work,  regardless  of  the  prohibition.  Count  Thurn  encouraged 
them  to  persevere,  promising  them  ample  support.  The 
bishop  appealed  to  the  Emperor  Matthias.  He  also  issued 
his  prohibition ;  but  aware  of  the  strength  of  the  Protestants, 
did  not  venture  to  attempt  to  enforce  it  by  arms.  Ferdi- 
nand, however,  was  not  disposed  to  yield  to  this  spirit,  and 
by  his  influence  obtained  an  order,  demanding  the  immediate 
surrender  of  the  church  to  the  Catholics,  or  its  entire  demo- 
lition. The  bishop  attempted  its  destruction  by  an  armed 
force,  but  the  Protestants  defended  their  property,  and  sent 
a  committee  to  Matthias,  petitioning  for  a  revocation  of  the 
mandate.  These  deputies  were  seized  and  imprisoned  by  the 
king,  and  an  imperial  force  was  sent  to  the  town,  Brunau,  to 
taKe  possession  of  the  church.  From  so  small  a  beginning 
rose  the  Thirty  Years'  War. 

Count  Thurn  immediately  summoned  a  convention  of  six 


?66  THE     HOUSE     OF     AUSTRIA. 

delegates  from  each  of  the  districts,  called  circles  in  BoL«$iiite. 
The  delegates  met  at  Prague  on  the  16th  of  March,  1618. 
An  immense  concourse  of  Protestants  from  all  parts  of  the  suiv 
rounding  country  accompanied  the  delegates  to  the  oapitaL 
Count  Thum  was  a  man  of  surpassing  eloquence,  and  seemed 
to  control  at  will  all  the  passions  of  the  human  heart.  In  the 
boldest  strains  of  eloquence  he  addressed  the  assembly,  and 
roused  them  to  the  most  enthusiastic  resolve  to  defend  at  all 
hazards  their  civil  and  religious  rights.  They  unanimously 
passed  a  resolve  that  the  demolition  of  the  church  and  the  sus- 
pension of  tlie  Protestant  worship  were  violations  of  the  royal 
edict,  and  they  drew  up  a  petition  to  the  emperor  demand* 
ing  the  redress  of  this  grievance,  and  the  liberation  of  the 
imprisoned  deputies  from  Brunau.  The  meeting  then  ad- 
journed, to  be  reassembled  soon  to  hear  the  reply  of  the  em- 
peror. 

As  the  delegates  and  the  multitudes  who  accompanied 
them  returned  to  their  homes,  they  spread  everywhere  the  im^ 
pression  produced  upon  their  minds  by  the  glowing  eloquence 
of  Count  Thurn.  The  Pi'otestant  mind  was  roused  to  the 
highest  pitch  by  the  truthful  representation,  that  the  court  had 
adopted  a  deliberate  plan  for  the  utter  extirpation  of  Protefr 
tant  worship  throughout  Bohemia,  and  that  foreign  troope 
were  to  be  brought  in  to  execute  this  decree.  These  convic- 
tions were  strengthened  and  the  alarm  increased  by  the  defiant 
reply  which  Matthias  sent  back  from  his  palace  in  Vienna  U» 
his  Bohemian  subjects.  He  accused  the  delegates  of  treason 
and  of  circulating  false  and  slanderous  reports,  and  declared 
that  they  should  be  punished  according  to  their  deserts.  I£d 
forbade  them  to  meet  again,  or  to  interfere  in  any  way  wisA 
the  affairs  of  Brunau,  stating  that  at  his  leisure  he  would  r^ 
pair  to  Prague  and  attend  to  the  business  himself. 

The  king  could  not  have  framed  an  answer  better  caloil< 
lated  to  exasperate  the  people,  and  rouse  them  to  the  molt 
determined  resistance.     Count  Thum,  regardless  of  the  pro 


UATTHIAS.  237 

hibition,  called  the  delegates  together  and  read  to  them  the 
answer,  which  the  king  had  not  addressed  to  them  but  to  the 
council  of  regency.  He  then  addressed  them  again  in  those 
impassioned  strains  which  he  had  ever  at  command,  and 
roused  them  almost  to  fury  against  those  Catholic  lords  who 
had  dictated  this  answer  to  the  king  and  obtained  his  sig- 
nature. 

The  next  day  the  nobles  met  again.  They  came  to  the 
place  of  meeting  thoroughly  armed  and  surrounded  by  their 
retainers,  prepared  to  repel  force  by  force.  Coiuit  Thurn  now 
wished  to  lead  them  to  some  act  of  hostility  so  decisive  that 
they  would  be  irrecoverably  committed.  The  king's  council 
of  regency  was  then  assembled  in  the  palace  of  Prague.  The 
regency  consisted  of  seven  Catholics  and  three  Protestants. 
For  some  unknown  reason  the  Protestant  lords  were  not  pres- 
ent on  this  occasion.  Three  of  the  members  of  the  regency, 
Slavata  and  Martinetz  and  the  burgrave  of  Prague,  were  pecu- 
liarly obnoxious  on  account  of  the  implaca,ble  spirit  with  which 
they  had  ever  persecuted  the  reformers.  These  lords  were  the 
especial  friends  of  Ferdinand  and  had  great  influence  with 
Matthias,  and  it  was  not  doubted  that  they  had  framed  the 
answer  which  the  emperor  had  returned.  Incited  by  Count 
Thurn,  several  of  the  most  resolute  of  the  delegates,  led  by 
the  count,  proceeded  to  the  palace,  and  burst  into  the  room 
where  the  regency  was  in  session. 

Their  leader,  addressing  Slavata,  Martinetz,  and  Diepold, 
the  burgrave,  said,  "  Our  business  is  \vith  you.  We  w  ish  to 
know  if  you  are  responsible  for  the  answer  retui'ned  to  us  by 
the  king." 

"  That,"  one  of  them  replied,  "  is  a  secret  of  state  which 
we  are  not  bound  to  reveal." 

"  Let  us  follow,"  exclaimed  the  Protestant  chief,  "  the  an- 
cient custom  of  Bohemia,  and  hurl  them  fiom  the  window." 

They  were  in  a  room  in  the  tower  of  the  castle,  and  it  was 
eighty  feet  to  the  water  of  the  moat.   The  Catholic  lords  were 


288  THE     HOUSE    OP     AUSTRIA. 

instantly  seized,  dragged  to  the  window  and  thrust  oat.  Al 
most  incredible  as  it  may  seem,  the  water  and  the  mud  of 
the  moat  so  broke  their  fell,  that  neither  of  them  was  kiUed. 
They  all  recovered  from  the  effects  of  their  fall.  Having  per* 
formed  this  deed.  Count  Thurn  and  bis  companions  returned 
to  the  delegates,  informed  them  of  what  they  had  done,  and 
urged  them  that  the  only  hope  of  safety  now,  for  any  Prote»« 
tant,  was  for  all  to  imite  in  open  and  desperate  resistance.  Then 
mounting  his  horse,  and  protected  by  a  strong  body-guard,  he 
rode  through  the  streets  of  Prague,  stopping  at  every  coi> 
ner  to  harangue  the  Protestant  populace.  The  city  wa« 
thronged  on  the  occasion  by  Protestants  from  all  parts  of  the 
kingdom. 

"  I  do  not,"  he  exclaimed,  **  propose  myself  as  your  chiej^ 
but  as  your  companion,  in  that  peril  which  will  lead  us  to 
happy  freedom  or  to  glorious  death.  The  die  is  thrown.  It 
is  too  late  to  recall  what  is  past.  Your  safety  depends  alone 
on  unanimity  and  courage,  and  if  you  hesitate  to  burst  asun- 
der your  chains,  you  have  no  alternative  but  to  perish  by  the 
hands  of  the  executioner." 

He  was  everywhere  greeted  with  shouts  of  enthusiasm, 
and  the  whole  Protestant  population  were  united  as  one  man 
in  the  cause.  Even  many  of  the  moderate  Catholics,  disgusted 
Teith  the  despotism  of  the  newly  elected  king,  which  embraced 
civil  as  well  as  religious  affairs,  joined  the  Protestants,  for  they 
feared  the  loss  of  their  civil  rights  more  than  they  dreaded 
the  inroads  of  heresy. 

With  amazing  celerity  they  now  organized  to  repel  the 
force  which  they  knew  that  the  emperor  would  immediately 
send  to  crush  them.  Within  three  days  their  plans  were  all 
matured  and  an  organization  effected  which  made  the  king 
tremble  in  his  palace.  Coimt  Thum  was  appointed  their  coni> 
mander,  an  executive  committee  of  thirty  very  eflBcient  men 
was  chosen,  which  committee  immediately  issued  orders  for  the 
levy  of  troops  all  over  the  kingdom.     Envoys  were  sent  tc 


MATTHIAS.  239 

Moravia,  Silesia,  Lusatia,  and  Hungaiy,  and  to  the  Protestant* 
all  over  the  German  empire.  The  Aichbisnop  of  Prague  was 
expelled  from  the  city,  and  the  Jesuits  were  also  banished. 
They  then  issued  a  proclamation  in  defense  of  their  con- 
duct, which  they  sent  to  the  king  with  a  firm  but  respectful 
letter. 

One  can  not  but  be  amused  in  reading  their  defense  of  the 
outrage  against  the  council  of  regency.  "  We  have  thrown 
from  the  windows,"  they  said,  "the  two  ministerr?  who  have 
been  the  enemies  of  the  State,  together  with  their  creature 
and  flatterer,  in  conformity  with  an  ancient  custom  prevalent 
throughout  all  Bohemia,  as  well  as  in  the  capital.  This  cus- 
tom is  justified  by  the  example  of  Jezebel  in  holy  Writ,  who 
was  thrown  from  a  window  for  persecuting  the  people  of  God ; 
and  it  was  common  among  the  Romans,  and  all  other  nations 
of  antiquity,  who  hurled  the  disturbers  of  the  public  peace 
from  rocks  and  precipices." 

Matthias  had  very  reluctantly  sent  his  insulting  and  defi- 
ant answer  to  the  reasonable  complaints  of  the  Protestanta, 
and  he  was  thunderstruck  in  contemplating  the  storm  which 
had  thus  been  raised — a  storm  which  apparently  no  human 
wisdom  could  now  allay.  There  are  no  energies  so  potent 
as  those  which  are  aroused  by  religious  convictions.  Matthias 
well  knew  the  ascendency  of  the  Protestants  all  over  Bohemia, 
and  that  their  spirit,  once  thoroughly  aroused,  could  not  be  eas- 
ilj  quelled  by  any  opposing  force  he  coald  array.  He  was 
also  aware  that  Ferdinand  was  thoroughly  detested  by  the 
Protestant  leaders,  and  that  it  was  by  no  means  improbable 
that  this  revolt  would  thwart  all  his  plans  in  securing  his  suo- 
cession. 

As  the  Protestants  had  not  renounced  their  allegiuioei 
Matthias  was  strongly  disposed  to  measures  of  conciliation, 
and  several  of  the  most  influential,  yet  fair-minded  Catholioi 
snpported  him  in  these  views.  Hie  Protestants  were  too  nu- 
merous  to  be  annihilated,  and  too  strong  in  their  desperatios 


240  THE      HOUSE      OF      AUSTRIA. 

to  be  crushed.  But  Ferdinand,  guided  by  the  Jesuits,  was  im 
placable.  He  issued  a  manifesto,  which  was  but  a  transcript 
of  his  own  soul,  and  which  is  really  sublime  in  the  sincerity 
and  fervor  of  its  intolerance. 

"  All  attempts,"  said  he,  "  to  bring  to  reason  a  people  whom 
God  has  struck  with  judicial  blindness  will  be  in  vain.  Since 
the  introduction  of  heresy  into  Bohemia,  we  have  seen  nothing 
but  tumults,  disobedience  and  rebellion.  While  the  Catholics 
and  the  sovereign  have  displayed  only  lenity  and  moderation, 
these  sects  have  become  stronger,  more  violent  and  more  inso- 
lent ;  having  gained  all  their  objects  in  religious  aifairs,  they 
turn  their  arras  against  the  civil  government,  and  attack  the 
supreme  authority  under  the  pretense  of  conscience ;  not  con- 
tent with  confederating  themselves  against  their  sovereign, 
they  have  usurped  the  power  of  taxation,  and  have  made  alli- 
ances with  foreign  States,  particularly  with  the  Protestant 
princes  of  Germany,  in  order  to  deprive  him  of  the  very  meana 
of  reducing  them  to  obedience.  They  have  left  nothing  to  the 
sovereign  but  bis  palaces  and  the  convents;  and  after  their  re- 
cent outrages  against  his  ministers,  and  the  usurpation  of  the 
regal  revenues,  no  object  remains  for  their  vengeance  and  ra- 
pacity but  the  persons  of  the  sovereign  and  his  successor,  and 
the  whole  house  of  Austria. 

"  If  sovereign  power  emanates  from  God,  these  atrocious 
deeds  must  proceed  from  the  devil,  and  therefore  must  draw 
down  divine  punishment.  Neither  can  God  be  pleased  with 
the  conduct  of  the  sovereign,  in  conniving  at  or  acquiescing  in 
all  the  demands  of  the  disobedient.  Nothing  now  remains  for 
him,  but  to  submit  to  be  lorded  by  his  subjects,  or  to  free  him- 
self fi-om  this  disgraceful  slavei-y  before  his  territories  are 
formed  into  a  republic.  The  rebels  have  at  length  deprived 
themselves  of  the  only  plausible  argument  which  their  preach, 
ers  have  incessantly  thundered  from  the  pulpit,  that  they  wero 
contending  for  religious  freedom  ;  and  the  emperor  and  the 
oouse  of  Austria  have  now  the  fairest  opportunity  to  convince 


TA  \TTBIA8.  241 

the  world  that  their  sole  object  is  only  to  deKver  themselves 
from  slavery  and  restc^re  their  legal  authority.  They  are  b6» 
cure  of  divine  support,  and  they  have  only  the  alternative  of 
8  war  by  which  they  may  regain  their  power,  or  a  peace  which 
is  far  more  dishonorable  and  dangerous  than  war.  If  success- 
ful, the  forfeited  property  of  the  rebels  will  defray  the  expense 
of  their  armaments ;  if  the  event  of  hostilities  be  unfortunate, 
they  can  only  lose,  with  honor,  and  with  arms  in  their  hands, 
the  rights  and  prerogatives  which  are  and  will  be  wrested  from 
them  with  shame  and  dishonor.  It  is  better  not  to  reign  than 
to  be  the  slave  of  subjects.  It  is  far  more  desirable  and  glo- 
rious to  shed  our  blood  at  the  foot  of  the  throne  than  to  be 
driven  from  it  like  criminals  and  malefactors." 

Matthias  endeavored  to  unite  his  own  peace  policy  with 
the  energetic  warlike  measures  urged  by  Ferdinand.  He  at- 
tempted to  overawe  by  a  great  demonstration  of  physical  force, 
while  at  the  same  time  he  made  very  pacific  proposals.  Ap- 
plying to  Spain  for  aid,  the  Sjjanish  court  sent  him  eight  thou- 
sand troops  from  the  Netherlands ;  he  also  raised,  in  his  own 
dominions,  ten  thousand  men.  Having  assembled  this  force  he 
sent  word  to  the  Protestants,  that  if  they  would  disband  their 
force  he  would  do  the  same,  and  that  he  would  confirm  the 
royal  edict,  and  give  full  security  for  the  maintenance  of  their 
civil  and  religious  privileges.  The  Protestants  refused  to  di»> 
band,  knowing  that  they  could  place  no  reliance  upon  the  word 
of  the  unstable  monarch  who  was  crowded  by  the  rising  power 
of  the  energetic  Ferdinand.  The  ambitious  naturally  deserted 
the  court  of  the  sovereign  whose  days  were  declining,  to  en- 
list in  the  service  of  one  who  was  just  entering  upon  the  king- 
ly power. 

Ferdinand  was  enraged  at  what  he  considered  the  pusilla- 
nimity of  the  king.  Maximilian,  the  younger  brother  of  Mat- 
thias, cordially  espoused  the  cause  of  Ferdinand.  Cardinal 
Kleses,  a  Catholic  of  commanding  mfluence  and  of  enlight- 
ened, liberal  views,  was  the  counselor  of  the  king.    Ferdinand 


242  THE    HOTTSB     OP     ATTSTBIA. 

and  Maximilian  resolved  that  he  should  no  longer  have  access 
to  the  ear  of  the  pliant  monarch,  but  he  could  be  removed  from 
the  court  only  by  violence.  With  an  armed  band  they  en 
tared  the  palace  at  Vienna,  seized  the  cardinal  in  the  midst  of 
the  court,  stripped  him  of  his  robes,  hurried  him  into  a  car- 
riage, and  conveyed  him  to  a  strong  castle  in  the  midst  of 
the  mountains  of  the  Tyrol,  where  they  held  him  a  close  pris- 
oner.  The  emperor  was  at  the  time  confined  to  his  bed  with 
the  gout.  As  soon  as  they  had  sent  off  the  cardinal,  Ferdi- 
nand and  Maximilian  repaired  to  the  royal  chamber,  informed 
the  emperor  of  what  they  had  done,  and  attempted  to  justify 
the  deed  on  the  plea  that  the  cardinal  was  a  weak  and  wicked 
minister  whose  policy  would  certainly  divide  and  ruin  the 
house  of  Austria. 

The  emperor  was  in  his  bed  as  he  received  this  insulting 
announcement  of  a  still  more  insulting  outrage.  For  a  moment 
he  was  speechless  with  rage.  But  he  was  old,  sick  and  power- 
less. This  act  revealed  to  him  that  the  scepter  had  fallen  from 
his  hands.  In  a  paroxysm  of  excitement,  to  prevent  himself 
from  speakmg  he  thrust  the  bed-clothes  into  his  mouth,  nearly 
suffocating  himself.  Resistance  was  in  vain.  He  feared  that 
should  he  manifest  any,  he  also  might  be  torn  from  his  palace, 
a  captive,  to  share  the  prison  of  the  cardinal.  In  sullen  indig- 
nation he  submitted  to  the  outrage. 

Ferdinand  and  Maximilian  now  pursued  their  energetic 
measures  of  hostility  unopposed.  They  immediately  put  the 
army  in  motion  to  invade  Bohemia,  and  boasted  that  the  Prot- 
estants should  soon  be  punished  with  severity  which  would 
teach  them  a  lesson  they  would  never  forget.  But  the  Prot- 
estants were  on  the  alert.  Every  town  in  the  kingdom  had 
joined  in  the  confederacy,  and  in  a  few  weeks  Count  Thurn 
found  himself  at  the  head  of  ten  thousand  men  inspired  with 
the  most  determined  spirit.  The  Silesians  and  Lusatian.-* 
marched  to  help  them,  and  the  Protestant  league  of  Germany 
sent  them  timely  supplies.    The  troops  of  Ferdinand  founc 


MATTHIAS.  948 

•pponents  in  every  pass  and  in  every  defile,  and  in  tbeir  en- 
deavor to  force  their  way  through  the  fastnesses  of  the  moun 
tains,  were  frequently  driven  back  with  great  loss.  At  length 
the  troops  of  Ferdinand,  defeated  at  every  point,  were  oon»- 
pelled  to  retreat  in  shame  back  to  Austria,  leaving  all  Bohemia 
in  the  hands  of  the  Protestants 

Ferdinand  was  now  in  trouble  and  disgrace.  His  plans  had 
signally  failed.  The  Protestants  all  over  Germany  were  in 
arms,  and  their  spirits  roused  to  the  highest  pitch  ;  many  of 
the  moderate  Catholics  refiised  to  march  against  them,  declar- 
ing that  the  Protestants  were  right  in  resisting  such  oppres- 
sion. They  feared  Ferdinand,  and  were  apprehensive  that  his 
despotic  temper,  commencing  with  religious  intolerance,  would 
terminate  in  civil  tyranny.  It  was  evident  to  all  that  the  Prot- 
estants could  not  be  put  down  by  force  of  arms,  and  even 
Ferdinand  was  so  intensely  humiliated  that  he  was  constrained 
to  assent  to  the  proposal  which  Matthias  made  to  refer  their  dif 
ficulty  to  arbitration.  Four  princes  were  selected  as  the  ret 
erees — the  Electors  of  Mentz,  Bavaria,  Saxony  and  Palatine  , 
They  were  to  meet  at  Egra  the  14th  of  April,  1619. 

But  Matthias,  the  victim  of  disappointment  and  grie^  wa« 
now  rapidly  approaching  his  end.  The  palace  at  Vienna  was 
shrouded  in  gloom,  and  no  smiles  were  seen  there,  and  no 
sounds  of  joy  were  heard  in  those  regal  saloons.  The  wife  of 
Matthias,  whom  he  tenderly  loved,  oppressed  by  the  humilia- 
tion and  anguish  which  she  saw  her  husband  enduring,  died  of 
a  broken  heart.  Matthias  was  inconsolable  under  this  irre- 
trievable loss.  Lying  upon  his  bed  tortured  with  the  pain  of 
the  gout,  sinking  under  incurable  disease,  with  no  pleasant 
memories  of  the  past  to  cheer  him,  with  disgrace  and  disaster 
accumulating,  and  with  no  bright  hopes  beyond  the  grave,  he 
loathed  life  and  dreaded  death.  The  emperor  in  his  palace 
was  perhaps  the  most  pitiable  object  which  could  be  found  in 
all  his  realms.  He  tossed  upon  his  pillow,  the  victim  of  re- 
morse and  despair,  now  condemning  himself  for  his  cruet 


244  THE     HOITSB     OF     AUSTBlA. 

treatment  of  his  brother  Rhodolph,  now  mveighing  bitterly 
against  the  inhumanity  and  arrogance  of  Ferdinand  and  Max> 
imilian.  On  the  20th  of  March,  1619,  the  despairing  spirit  of 
the  emperor  passed  away  to  the  tribuaal  of  the  **  King  of 
ioDgs  and  the  Lord  of  iorda.' 


CHAPTER    XYI. 

FERDINAND    II. 

Feom  1619  TO  1621. 

P0MBS8IONS  OP  THB  Emperok. — Power  of  the  Pbotestants  or  'Rovxaxk. — GnrBXAfc 

Spikit  OF  Insurrection. — Anxiety  of  Ferdinand. — Insurrection  led  bt  Coxsm 
TuuRN. — Unpopularity  of  the  Emperor. — Affecting  Declaration  of  the  Em- 
peror.— Insurrection  in  Vienna. — The  Arrival  of  Succor. — Ferdinand  seeks 

THE  imperial    ThRONE.— REPUDIATED  BY    BoHEMIA.— ThE    PaLATINATE. — FrEDERIO 

offeked  the  Crown  of  Bohemia. — Frederic  crowned. — Revolt  in  Hungary. — 
Desperate  Condition  ofthe  Emperor. — Catholic  League — The  Calvinists  and 
THE    Puritans. — Duplicity  of  the  Emperor. — Foreign  Combinations. — Truob 

BETWEEN  THB  CATHOLICS  AND    THE    PrOTESTANTS. — ^ThE   ATTACK    UPON    BoHEMIA. — 

Battle  of  the  White  Mountain. 

FERDINAND,  who  now  ascended  the  throne  by  right  of 
the  coronation  he  had  already  received,  was  in  the  prime 
of  life,  being  but  forty-one  years  of  age,  and  was  in  possession 
of  a  rare  accumulation  of  dignities.  He  was  Archduke  of  Aus- 
tria, King  of  Hungary  and  of  Bohemia,  Duke  of  Styria,  Ca- 
rinthia  and  Carniola,  and  held  joint  possession,  with  his  two 
brothers,  of  the  spacious  territory  of  the  Tyrol.  Thus  all  these 
wide-spread  and  powerful  territories,  with  different  languages, 
different  laws,  and  diverse  manners  and  customs,  were  united 
under  the  Austrian  monarchy,  which  was  now  undeniably  one 
ofthe  leading  powers  of  Europe.  In  addition  to  all  these  titles 
and  possessions,  he  was  a  prominent  candidate  for  the  imperial 
crown  of  Germany.  To  secure  this  additional  dignity  he  coulc* 
tely  upon  his  own  family  influence,  which  was  very  powerful, 
and  also  upon  the  aid  of  the  Spanish  monarchy.  When  we 
contemplate  his  accession  in  this  light,  he  appears  as  one  ofthe 
most  powerful  monarchs  who  ever  ascended  a  throne. 

But  there  is  another  side  to  the  picture.     The  spirit  of  r©- 


246  THE     HOUSE      OF     AUSTRIA. 

bellion  against  his  authority  had  spread  through  nearly  all  hit 
territories,  and  he  had  neither  State  nor  kingdom  where  his 
power  seemed  stable.  In  whatever  direction  he  turned  his 
eyes,  he  saw  either  the  gleam  of  hostile  arms  or  the  people  in 
a  tumult  just  ready  to  combine  against  him. 

The  Protestants  of  Bohemia  had  much  to  encourage  them. 
All  the  kingdom,  excepting  one  fortress,  was  in  their  possession. 
All  the  Protestants  of  the  German  empire  had  espoused  their 
cause.  The  Silesians,  Lusatians  and  Moravians  were  in  open 
revolt.  The  Hungarian  Protestants,  animated  by  the  success 
of  the  Bohemians,  were  eager  to  follow  their  example  and 
throw  off  the  yoke  of  Ferdinand.  With  iron  tyranny  he  had 
rilenced  every  Protestant  voice  in  the  Styrian  provinces,  and 
had  crushed  every  semblance  of  religious  liberty.  But  the 
successful  example  of  the  Bohemians  had  roused  the  Styrians, 
and  they  also  were  on  the  eve  of  making  a  bold  move  in  de- 
fense of  their  rights.  Even  in  Austria  itself,  and  beneath  the 
very  shadow  of  the  palaces  of  Vienna,  conspiracies  were  rife, 
and  insurrection  was  only  checked  by  the  presence  of  the 
army  which  had  been  driven  out  of  Bohemia. 

Even  Ferdinand  could  not  be  blind  to  the  difficulties  which 
were  accumulating  upon  him,  and  to  the  precarious  tenure  of 
his  power.  He  saw  the  necessity  of  persevering  in  the  attempt 
at  conciliation  which  he  had  so  reluctantly  commenced.  And 
yet,  with  strange  infatuation,  he  proposed  an  accommodation 
in  a  manner  which  was  deemed  insulting,  and  which  tended 
only  to  exasperate.  The  very  day  of  his  aiocession  to  the 
throne,  he  sent  a  commission  to  Prague,  to  propose  a  truce  ; 
but,  instead  of  conferring  with  the  Protestant  leaders,  he 
seemed  to  treat  them  with  intentional  contempt,  by  address 
ing  his  proposal  to  that  very  council  of  regency  which  had 
become  so  obnoxious.  The  Protestants,  justly  regarding  this 
as  an  indication  of  the  implacable  state  of  his  mind,  and  con- 
scious that  the  proposed  truce  would  only  enable  him  more  ^ 
feotually  to  rally  his  forces,  made  no  reply  whatever  to  hb  jwo- 


FERDINAND    II.  241 

posals.  Ferdinand,  perceiving  that  he  had  raade  a  great  mis- 
take, and  that  he  had  not  rightly  appreciated  the  spirit  of  hb 
foes,  humbled  himself  a  little  more,  and  made  still  another 
attempt  at  conciliation.  But  the  Protestaiits  had  now  resolved 
that  Ferdinand  should  never  be  King  of  Bohemia.  It  had 
become  an  established  tenet  of  the  Catholic  church  that  it  is 
not  necessary  to  keep  faith  with  heretics.  Whatever  solemn 
promises  Ferdinand  might  make,  the  pope  would  absolve  him 
from  all  sin  in  violating  them. 

Count  Thurn,  with  sixteen  thousand  men,  marched  into 
Moravia.  The  people  rose  simultaneously  to  greet  him.  He 
entered  Brunn,  the  capital,  in  triumph.  The  revolution  was 
immediate  and  entire.  They  abolished  the  Austrian  govern- 
ment, established  the  Protestant  worship,  and  organized  a 
new  government  similar  to  that  which  they  had  instituted  in 
Bohemia.  Crossing  the  frontier,  Count  Thurn  boldly  entered 
Austria  and,  meeting  no  foe  capable  of  retarding  his  steps,  he 
pushed  vigorously  on  even  to  the  very  gates  of  Vienna.  As 
he  had  no  heavy  artillery  capable  of  battering  down  the  walls, 
and  as  he  knew  that  he  had  many  partisans  within  the  walls 
of  the  city,  he  took  possession  of  the  suburbs,  blockaded  the 
town,  and  waited  for  the  slow  operation  of  a  siege,  hoping 
thus  to  be  able  to  take  the  capital  and  the  person  of  the  sov- 
ereign without  bloodshed 

Ferdinand  had  brought  such  trouble  upon  the  country,  that 
he  was  now  almost  as  unpopular  with  the  Catholics  as  with  the 
Protestants,  and  all  his  appeals  to  them  for  aid  were  of  but 
little  avail.  The  sudden  approach  of  Count  Thurn  had  amazed 
and  discomfited  him,  and  he  knew  not  in  what  direction  to 
look  for  aid.  Cooped  up  in  his  capital,  he  could  hold  no  com- 
munication with  foreign  powers,  and  his  own  subjects  mani- 
fested no  disposition  to  come  to  his  rescue.  The  evidence! 
of  popular  discontent,  even  in  the  city,  were  every  hour  be- 
coming more  manifest,  and  the  unhappy  sovereign  was  ia 
liourly  expectation  of  an  insurrection  in  the  streets. 


S48  THB     H0U8B     OF     AUSTRIA 

The  surrender  of  Vienna  involved  the  loss  of  Anstriai 
With  the  loss  of  Austria  vanished  all  hopes  of  the  imperial 
crown.  Bohemia,  Austria,  and  the  German  scepter  gone, 
Hungary  would  soon  follow ;  and  then,  his  own  Styrian  ter 
ritories,  sustained  and  aided  by  their  successful  neighbors, 
would  speedily  discard  his  sway.  Ferdinand  saw  it  all  clearly, 
and  was  in  an  agony  of  despair.  He  has  confided  to  his  con- 
fessor the  emotions  which,  in  those  terrible  hours,  agitated 
his  soul.  It  is  affecting  to  read  the  declaration,  indicative  as 
it  is  that  the  most  cruel  and  perfidious  man  may  be  sincere 
and  even  conscientious  in  his  cruelty  and  crime.  To  his  Jes- 
uitical confessor,  Bartholomew  Valerius,  he  said, 

"  I  have  reflected  on  the  dangers  which  threaten  me  and 
my  family,  both  at  home  and  abroad.  With  an  enemy  in  the 
suburbs,  sensible  that  the  Protestants  are  plotting  my  ruin,  I 
implore  that  help  from  God  which  I  can  not  expect  from  man. 
I  had  recourse  to  my  Saviour,  and  said,  '  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
Thou  Redeemer  of  mankind,  Thou  to  whom  all  hearts  are 
opened.  Thou  knowest  that  I  seek  Thy  honor,  not  my  own.  If 
it  be  Thy  will,  that,  in  this  extremity,  I  should  be  overcome  by 
ttiy  enemies,  and  be  made  the  sport  and  contempt  of  the  world, 
I  will  drink  of  the  bitter  cup.  Thy  will  be  done.'  I  had 
hardly  spoken  these  words  before  I  was  mspired  with  new 
hope,  and  felt  a  full  conviction  that  God  would  frustrate  the 
designs  of  my  enemies." 

Nerved  by  such  a  spirit,  Ferdinand  was  prepared  to  en- 
dure all  things  rather  than  yield  the  slightest  point.  Hour 
after  hour  his  situation  became  more  desperate,  and  still  he 
remained  inflexible.  Balls  from  the  batteries  of  Count  Thurn 
struck  even  the  walls  of  his  palace ;  murmurs  filled  the  streets, 
and  menaces  rose  to  his  ears  from  beneath  his  windows.  "Let 
us  put  his  evil  counselors  to  the  sword,"  the  disaffected  ex- 
claimed ;  "  shut  him  up  in  a  convent ;  and  educate  his  chit 
dren  /i  the  Protestant  religion." 

At  length  the  crisis  had  apparently  arrived.    Insurrectiot 


FERDINAND    II.  849 

w»8  organized.  Clamorous  bands  surged  through  the  streets, 
and  there  was  a  state  of  tumult  which  no  police  force  could 
qnell.  A  band  of  anned  men  burst  into  the  palace,  forced 
their  way  into  the  presence  of  Ferdinand,  and  demanded  the 
snrrendcr  of  the  city.  At  that  moment,  when  Ferdinand 
might  well  have  been  in  despair,  the  unexpected  sound  of 
trumpets  was  heard  in  the  streets,  and  the  tramp  of  a  squadron 
of  cavalry.  The  king  was  as  much  amazed  as  were  th'^  'n- 
surgents.  The  deputies,  not  knowing  what  it  meant,  in  great 
alarm  retreated  from  the  palace.  The  squadron  swept  the 
streets,  and  surrounded  the  palace.  They  had  been  sent  to 
the  city  by  the  general  who  had  command  of  the  Austrian 
forces,  and,  arriving  at  full  speedy  had  entered  unexpectedly 
at  the  only  gate  which  the  besiegers  had  not  guarded. 

Their  arrival,  as  if  by  heavenly  commission,  and  the  tid- 
ings they  brought  of  other  succor  near  at  hand,  reanimated 
the  king  and  his  partisans,  and  instantly  the  whole  aspect  of 
things  within  the  city  was  changed.  Six  hundred  students  in 
the  Roman  Catholic  institutions  of  the  city  flew  to  arms,  and 
organized  themselves  as  a  body-guard  of  the  king.  All  the 
zealous  Catholics  formed  themselves  into  military  bands,  and 
this  encouraged  that  numei'ous  neutral  party,  always  existing 
in  sucn  seasons  of  uncertainty,  ready  to  join  those  who  shall 
prove  to  be  the  strongest.  The  Protestants  fled  from  the  city, 
and  sought  protection  under  the  banners  of  Count  Thurn, 

In  the  meantime  the  Catholics  in  Bohemia,  taking  advan- 
tage of  the  absence  of  Count  Thurn  with  his  troops,  had  sur- 
rounded Prague,  and  were  demanding  its  capitulation.  Thia 
rendered  it  necessary  for  the  Bohemian  army  immediately  to 
strike  their  tents  and  return  to  Bohemia.  Never  was  there  a 
more  sudden  and  perfect  deliverance.  It  was,  however,  de- 
liverance only  from  the  momentary  peril.  The  great  elements 
of  discontent  and  conflict  remained  unchanged. 

It  was  very  evident  that  the  difficulties  which  Ferdinand 
had  to  encounter  in  his  Austrian  dominions,  were  io  immense 


THM     HOTTSE     OP     AXTSTRIA. 

that  he  could  not  hope  to  surmount  them  without  foreign  md 
He  consequently  deemed  it  a  matter  important  above  all  oth 
ers  to  secure  the  imperial  throne.  Without  this  strength  the 
loss  of  all  his  Austrian  possessions  was  inevitable.  With  the 
Influence  and  the  power  which  the  crown  of  Germany  would 
confer  upon  him  he  could  hope  to  gain  all.  Ferdinand  imme- 
iiately  left  Vienna  and  visited  the  most  influential  of  the  Ger- 
man princes  to  secure  their  support  for  his  election.  The 
Catholics  all  over  Germany,  alarmed  by  the  vigor  and  energy 
which  had  been  displayed  by  the  Protestants,  laid  aside  their 
several  preferences,  and  gradually  all  united  upon  Ferdinand. 
The  Protestants,  foolishly  allowing  their  Lutheran  and  Calvin- 
istic  differences  to  disunite  them,  could  not  agree  in  their  can- 
didate. Consequently  Ferdinand  was  elected,  and  immediate- 
ly crowned  emperor,  the  9th  of  September,  1619. 

The  Bohemians,  however,  remained  firm  in  their  resolve 
to  repudiate  him  utterly  as  their  king.  They  summoned  a 
diet  of  the  States  of  Bohemia,  Moravia,  Silesia  and  Lusatia 
to  meet  at  Prague.  Delegates  also  attended  the  diet  from 
Upper  and  Lower  Austria,  as  also  many  nobles  from  distant 
Hungary.  The  diet  drew  up  a  very  formidable  list  of  griev- 
ances, and  declared,  in  view  of  them,  that  Ferdinand  had  for- 
feited all  right  to  the  crown  of  Bohemia,  and  that  consequent 
iy  it  was  their  duty,  in  accordance  with  the  ancient  usages,  to 
proceed  to  the  election  of  a  sovereign.  The  Catholics  were 
now  so  entirely  in  the  minority  in  Bohemia  that  the  Protes- 
tants held  the  undisputed  control.  They  first  chose  the  Elect- 
or of  Saxony.  He,  conscious  that  he  could  maintain  his  post 
only  by  a  long  and  uncertain  war,  declined  the  perilous  dignity. 
They  then  with  great  unanimity  elected  Frederic,  the  Elector 
of  Palatine. 

The  Palatinate  was  a  territory  bordering  on  Bohemia,  of 
over  four  thousand  square  miles,  and  contained  nearly  seven 
hundred  thousand  inhabitants.  ITie  elector,  Frederic  V.,  wat 
thus  a  prince  of  no  small  power  in  his  own  right.    He  had  map 


FBBDINAND    Ii.  til 

fled  a  danghtei  of  James  L  of  England,  and  had  many  pow> 
erfnl  relatives.  Frederic  was  an  afikble,  accomplislied,  kin^ 
hearted  man,  qaite  ambitious,  and  with  but  little  force  of 
character.  He  was  much  pleased  at  the  idea  of  being  elevated 
to  the  dignity  of  a  king,  and  was  yet  not  a  little  appalled  in 
contemplating  the  dangers  which  it  was  manifest  he  must  en- 
counter. His  mother,  with  maternal  solicitude,  trembling  for 
her  son,  intreated  him  not  to  accept  the  perilous  crown.  Hia 
fether-in-law,  James,  remonstrated  against  it,  sternly  declaring 
that  he  would  never  patronize  subjects  in  rebellion  against 
their  sovereign,  that  he  would  never  acknowledge  Frederic** 
title  as  king,  or  render  him,  under  any  circumstancea,  eithei 
sjrmpathy  or  support.  On  the  other  hand  the  members  of  the 
Protestant  league  urged  his  acceptance  ;  his  uncles  united 
strongly  with  them  in  recommending  it,  and  above  all,  his  fasot 
Dating  wife,  whom  he  dotingly  loved,  and  who,  delighted  at 
the  idea  of  being  a  queen,  threw  herself  into  his  arms,  and 
plead  in  those  persuasive  tones  which  the  pliant  heart  of  Fred- 
eric could  not  resist.  The  Protestant  clergy,  also,  iu  a  strong 
delegation  waited  upon  him,  and  intreated  him  in  the  name  of 
that  Providence  which  had  apparently  proffered  to  him  the 
crown,  to  accept  it  in  fidelity  to  himself^  to  his  country  and  to 
the  true  religion. 

The  trembling  hand  and  the  teai-ful  eye  with  which  Fred- 
eric accepted  the  crown,  proved  his  incapacity  to  bear  the  bii!> 
den  in  those  stormy  days.  Placing  the  government  of  the 
Palatinate  in  the  hands  of  the  Duke  of  Deux  Ponts,  he  repaired, 
with  his  femily,  to  Prague.  A  rejoicing  multitude  met  him  at 
several  leagues  from  the  capital,  and  escorted  him  to  the  city 
with  an  unwonted  display  of  popular  enthusiasm.  He  was 
crowned  with  splendor  such  as  Bohemia  had  never  witnessed 
ftefore. 

For  a  time  the  Bohemians  surrendered  themselves  to  the 
most  extravagant  joy.  Frederic  was  exceedingly  amiable,  and 
just  the  prince  to  win,  in  cahn  and  sunny  days,  the  enthusiac 


152  THE      HOUSK     OF    AUSTHIA. 

tic  admiration  of  his  subjects.  They  were  highly  gratified 
in  having  the  King  of  Bohemia  dwell  in  his  own  capital  at 
Prague,  a  privilege  and  honor  which  they  had  seldom  enjoyed. 
Many  of  the  German  princes  acknowledged  Frederic's  title,  as 
did  also  Sweden,  Denmark,  Holland  and  Vienna.  The  revolu- 
tion in  Bohemia  was  apparently  consummated,  and  to  the  ordi- 
nary observer  no  cloud  could  be  seen  darkening  the  horizon. 

The  Bohemians  were  strengthened  in  their  sense  of  secur- 
ity by  a  similar  revolution  which  was  taking  place  in  Hungary. 
As  soon  as  Ferdinand  left  Vienna,  to  seek  the  crown  of  Ger- 
many,  the  Protestants  of  Hungary  threw  off  their  allegiance 
to  Austria,  and  rallied  around  the  banners  of  their  bold,  in- 
domitable leader,  Gabriel  Bethlehem.  They  fell  upon  the  im- 
perial forces  with  resistless  fury  and  speedily  dispersed  them. 
Having  captured  several  of  the  most  important  fortresses,  and 
having  many  troops  to  spare,  Gabriel  Bethlehem  sent  eighteen 
thousand  men  into  Moravia  to  aid  Count  Thurn  to  disperse 
the  imperial  forces  there.  He  then  marched  triumphantly  to 
Presburg,  the  renowned  capital  of  Hungary,  within  thirty 
miles  of  Vienna,  where  he  was  received  by  the  majority  of  the 
inhabitants  with  open  arms.  He  took  possession  of  the  saci'ed 
crown  and  of  the  crown  jewels,  called  an  assembly  of  the  no- 
bles from  the  various  States  of  Hungary  and  Transylvania, 
and  united  them  in  a  firm  band  against  Ferdinand.  He  now 
marched  up  the  banks  of  the  Danube  into  Austria.  Count 
Thurn  advanced  from  Moravia  to  meet  him.  The  junction  of 
their  forces  placed  the  two  leaders  in  command  of  sixty  thou- 
sand men.  They  followed  along  the  left  bank  of  the  majestic 
Danube  until  they  arrived  opposite  Vienna.  Here  they  found 
eighteen  thousand  troops  posted  to  oppose.  After  a  shoi't  con 
flict,  the  imperial  troops  retreated  from  behind  their  intrench* 
meuts  across  the  river,  and  blew  up  the  bridge. 

In  such  a  deplorable  condition  did  the  Emperor  Ferdinand 
find  his  affairs,  as  he  returned  from  Germany  to  Austria.  He 
was  apparently  in  a  despei  ate  position,^nd  no  human  sagacity 


FBXiI>INAND     II.  SW 

aonld  foresee  how  he  could  retrieve  his  fallen  fbrttinefl.  Ap- 
parently, could  his  despotic  arm  then  have  been  broken,  £a 
rope  might  have  been  spared  many  years  of  war  and  woe. 
But  the  designs  of  Providence  are  insci-ntable.  Again  thers 
wae  apparently  almost  miraculous  interposition.  The  imperial 
troops  were  rapidly  concentrated  in  the  vicinity  of  Vienna,  to 
prevent  the  passage  of  the  broad,  deep  and  rapid  river  by  the 
allied  army.  A  strong  force  was  dispatched  down  the  right 
bank  of  the  Danube,  which  attacked  and  dispei-sed  a  foroe 
left  to  protect  the  communication  with  Hungary.  The  sea8<NI 
^tas  far  advanced,  arid  it  was  intensely  cold  in  those  northern 
latitudes.  The  allied  army  had  been  collected  so  suddenly, 
that  no  suitable  provision  had  been  made  for  feeding  so  vast 
a  host.  Famine  added  its  terrors  to  the  cold  blasts  which 
menacingly  swept  the  plains,  and  as  there  was  imminent  dan* 
ger  that  the  imperial  army  might  cut  off  entirely  the  com* 
munication  of  the  allies  with  Hungary,  Gabriel  Bethlehem 
decided  to  relinquish  the  enterprise  of  taking  Vienna,  and 
retired  unimpeded  to  Presburg,  Almost  every  fortress  in 
Hungary  was  now  in  the  possession  of  the  Hungarians,  and 
Ferdinand,  though  his  capital  was  released,  saw  that  Hungary 
as  well  as  Bohemia  had  escaped  from  his  hands.  At  Pree* 
burg  Gabriel  was,  with  imposing  ceremonies,  proclaimed  King 
of  Hungary,  and  a  decree  of  prosci-iption  and  banishmait  wsm 
issued  against  all  the  adherents  of  Ferdinand. 

Germany  was  now  divided  into  two  great  leagues,  the 
Catholic  and  the  Protestant.  Though  nominally  religioot 
parties,  they  were  political  as  wed  as  religious,  and  sabject  to 
all  the  fluctuations  and  corruptions  attending  such  combina- 
tions. The  Protestant  league,  composed  of  princes  of  every 
degree  of  dignity,  who  came  from  all  parts  of  Grermany, 
proudly  mounted  and  armed,  and  attended  by  armed  retain- 
ers, from  a  few  score  to  many  hundreds  or  even  thousanda, 
met  at  Nuremburg.  It  was  one  of  the  most  influential  and 
imposing  assemblages  which  had  ever  gathered  in  Europe. 


SS4  THB    HOUSE    or    aUSTBIA. 

The  Catholics,  with  no  less  display  of  pomp  and  power, 
for  their  league  embraced  many  of  the  haughtiest  sovereigns 
in  Europe,  met  at  Wurtzburg.  There  were,  of  course,  act  a 
few  who  were  entirely  indifferent  as  to  the  religious  questions 
involved,  and  who  were  Catholics  or  Protestants,  in  sub- 
serviency to  the  dictates  of  interest  or  ambition.  Both  par- 
ties contended  with  the  arts  of  diplomacy  as  well  as  with 
those  of  war.  The  Spanish  court  was  preparing  a  powerful 
armament  to  send  from  the  Netherlands  to  the  help  of  Fer- 
dinand. The  Protestants  sent  an  army  to  TJlm  to  watch  their 
movements,  and  to  cut  them  off. 

Ferdinand  was  as  energetic  as  he  had  previously  proved 
liimself  inflexible  and  persevering.  In  person  he  visited 
Munich,  the  capital  of  Bavaria,  that  he  might  more  warmly 
interest  in  his  favor  Maximilian,  the  illustrious  and  warlike 
duke.  The  emperor  made  him  bi-illiant  promises,  and  secured 
his  cordial  cooperation.  The  Duke  of  Bavaria,  and  the  Elector 
of  the  Palatinate,  were  neighbors  and  rivals ;  and  the  em- 
peror offered  Maximilian  the  spoils  of  the  Palatinate,  if  they 
should  be  successful  in  their  warfare  against  the  newly  elected 
Bohemian  king.  Maximilian,  thus  persuaded,  placed  all  hia 
force  at  the  disposal  of  the  emperor. 

The  Elector  of  Saxony  was  a  Lutheran ;  the  Elector  Pal- 
atine a  Calvinist.  The  Lutherans  believed,  that  after  the  con- 
secration of  the  bread  and  wnne  at  the  sacramental  table, 
the  body  and  blood  of  Christ  were  spiritually  present  with 
that  bread  and  wine.  This  doctrine,  which  they  called  conr 
substantiation,  they  adopted  in  antagonism  to  the  papal  doc- 
trine of  transubstantiation,  which  was  that  the  bread  and 
wine  were  actually  transformed  into,  and  became  the  real 
body  and  blood  of  Christ. 

The  difference  between  the  Calvinists  and  the  Lutherans, 
as  we  have  before  mentioned,  was  that,  while  the  formei  con- 
sidered the  bread  and  wine  in  the  sacraments  as  representing 
the  body  and  the  blood  of  Christ,  the  latter  considered  the  body 


FERDINAND     II.  25C 

and  the  blood  as  spiritually  present  in  the  consecrated  elemental 
This  trivial  difference  divided  brethren  w^o  were  agreed 
apou  all  the  great  points  of  Christian  &ith,  duty  and  obliga- 
tion. It  is  melancholy,  and  yet  instructive  to  observe,  through 
the  course  of  history,  bow  large  a  proportion  of  the  energies 
of  Christians  have  been  absorbed  in  contentions  against  each 
other  upon  shadowy  points  of  doctrine,  while  a  world  haa 
bc^n  perishing  in  wickedness.  The  most  efficient  men  in  the 
Church  on  earth,  have  had  about  one  half  of  their  energies 
paralyzed  by  contentions  with  their  own  Christian  brethren. 
It  is  so  now.  The  most  energetic  men,  in  pleading  the  cause 
of  Christ,  are  often  assailed  even  more  unrelentingly  by 
brethren  who  differ  with  them  npon  some  small  point  of 
doctrine,  than  by  a  hostile  world. 

Human  nature,  even  when  partially  sanctified,  is  frail  in- 
deed. The  Elector  of  Saxony  was  perhaps  a  good  man,  bnt 
he  was  a  weak  one.  He  was  a  zealous  Lutheran,  and  was 
shocked  that  a  Calvinist,  a  man  who  held  the  destructive 
error  that  the  bread  and  wine  only  represented  the  body  and 
tiie  blood  of  Christ,  should  be  raised  to  the  throne  of  Bo- 
hemia, and  thus  become  the  leader  of  the  Protestant  party. 
The  Elector  of  Saxony  and  the  Elector  of  the  Palatine  had 
also  been  naturally  rivals,  as  neighbors,  and  possessors  of  about 
equal  rank  and  power.  Though  the  Calvinists,  to  conciliate 
the  Lutherans,  had  offered  the  throne  to  the  Elector  of  Saxony, 
and  he  had  declined  it,  as  too  perilous  a  post  for  him  to  oc- 
cupy, still  he  was  weakly  jealous  of  his  rival  who  had  assumed 
that  post,  and  was  thus  elevated  above  him  to  the  kingly 
dignity. 

Ferdinand  understood  all  this,  and  shrewdly  availed  him- 
ielf  of  it.  He  plied  the  elector  with  arguments  and  prom- 
ises, assuring  him  that  the  points  in  dispute  were  poUtical 
merely  and  not  religious ;  that  he  had  no  intention  of  oppoe- 
ing  the  Protestant  religion,  and  that  if  the  elector  would  aban- 
don the  Protestant  league,  he  would  reward  him  with  a  largs 


866  THJd:   HOUSE   op    austkia. 

tocession  of  territory.  It  seems  incredible  that  the  Elector  of 
Saxony  could  have  been  influenced  by  such  representations. 
But  so  it  was.  Averring  that  he  could  not  in  conscience  up- 
hold a  man  who  did  not  embi-ace  the  vital  doctrine  of  the  spir- 
itual presence,  he  abandoned  his  Protestant  brethren,  and 
drew  with  him  the  Landgrave  of  Hesse,  and  several  other 
Lutheran  princes.  This  was  a  very  serious  defection,  which 
disheartened  the  Protestants  as  much  as  it  encouraged  Ferdi- 
nand. 

The  wily  emperor  having  succeeded  so  admirably  with  the 
Protestant  elector,  now  turned  to  the  Roman  Catholic  court 
of  France — that  infamous  court,  still  crimsoned  with  the  blood 
of  the  St.  Bartholomew  massacre.  Then,  with  diplomatic  ter- 
giversation, he  represented  that  the  conflict  was  not  a  political 
one,  but  purely  religious,  involving  the  interests  of  the  Church. 
He  urged  that  the  peace  of  France  and  of  Europe  required 
that  the  Protestant  heresy  should  be  utterly  effaced  ;  and  he 
provoked  the  resentment  of  the  court  by  showing  how  much 
aid  the  Protestants  in  Europe  had  ever  received  from  the  Pala- 
tinate family.  Here  again  he  was  comj)letely  successful,  and 
the  young  king,  Louis  XIIL,  who  was  controlled  by  his  big- 
oted yet  powerful  minister,  the  Duke  of  Luines,  cordially  es- 
poused bis  cause. 

Spain,  intolerant,  despotic,  hating  Protestantism  with  per- 
fect hatred,  was  eager  with  its  aid.  A  well  furnished  army  of 
twenty-four  thousand  men  was  sent  from  the  Netherlands,  and 
also  a  large  sum  of  money  was  placed  in  the  treasury  of  Fer- 
dinand. Even  the  British  monarch,  notwithstanding  the 
elamors  of  the  nation,  was  maneuvered  into  neutrality.  And 
most  surprising  of  all,  Ferdinand  was  successful  in  securing 
a  truce  with  Gabriel  Bethlehem,  which,  though  it  conferred 
peace  upon  Hungary,  deprived  the  Bohemians  of  their  power 
fittl support. 

The  Protestants  were  strong  in  their  combination  ;  but 
still  it  was  a  power  of  fearful  strength  now  arrayed  against 


PBBDINAND     II.  257 

them.  It  was  evident  thut  Europe  was  on  the  eve  of  a  long 
and  terrible  struggle.  The  two  forces  began  to  assemble. 
The  Protestants  rendezvoused  at  Ulm,  under  the  command  of 
the  Margrave  of  Anspach.  The  Catholic  troops,  tVom  their 
wide  dispersion,  were  concentrating  at  Guntzburg,  to  be  led 
by  the  Duke  of  Bavaria.  The  attention  of  all  Europe  was 
wrested  by  these  immense  gatherings.  All  hearts  were 
oppressed  with  solicitude,  for  the  parties  were  very  equally 
matched,  and  results  of  most  momentous  importance  were  de- 
pendent upon  the  issue. 

In  this  state  of  affairs  the  Protestant  league,  which  ex- 
tended through  Europe,  entered  into  a  truce  with  the  Catho- 
lic league,  which  also  extended  through  Europe,  that  they 
should  both  withdraw  from  the  contest,  leaving  Ferdinand  and 
the  Bohemians  to  settle  the  dispute  as  they  best  could.  This 
seemed  very  much  to  narrow  the  field  of  strife,  but  the  meas- 
ure, in  its  practical  results,  was  far  more  favorable  to  Ferdinand 
than  to  the  Bohemians.  The  emperor  thus  disemban-assed,  by 
important  concessions,  and  by  menaces,  brought  the  Protest- 
ants of  Lower  Austria  into  submission.  The  masses,  over- 
awed by  a  show  of  power  which  they  could  not  resist,  yielded ; 
the  few  who  refused  to  bow  in  homage  to  the  emperor  were 
punished  as  guilty  of  treason. 

Ferdinand,  by  these  cautious  steps,  was  now  prepared  to 
concentrate  his  energies  ui^ou  Bohemia.  He  first  attacked  the 
dependent  provinces  of  Bohemia,  one  by  one,  sending  an  army 
of  twenty-five  thousand  men  to  take  them  unprepared.  Hav. 
ing  subjected  all  of  Upper  Austria  to  his  sway,  with  fifty  thou 
sand  men  he  entered  Bohemia.  Their  march  was  energetic 
and  sanguinary.  With  such  an  overpoweiing  force  they  took 
fortress  after  fortress,  scaling  ramparts,  mercilessly  cutting 
down  garrisons,  plundering  and  burning  towns,  and  massa- 
creing  the  inhabitants.  Neither  sex  nor  age  was  spared,  and 
a  brutal  soldiery  gratified  their  passions  in  the  perpetration  of 
indescribable  horrors.    Even  the  Duke  of  Bavaria  was  snocfced 


86^  THE     H0IT8B     OP     AUSTRIA. 

at  such  barbarities,  and  entered  his  remonstrances  against 
them.  Many  large  towns,  terrified  by  the  atrocities  perpe- 
trated upon  those  who  resisted  the  imperial  arms,  threw  op«i 
their  gates,  hoping  thus,  by  submission,  to  appease  the  yea* 
geance  of  the  conqueror. 

Frederic  was  a  weak  man,  not  at  all  capable  of  encounter- 
ing such  a  storm,  and  the  Bohemians  had  consequently  no  one 
to  rally  and  to  guide  them  with  efficiency.  His  situation  was 
now  alarming  in  the  extreme.  He  was  abandoned  by  the 
Protestant  league,  hemmed  in  on  every  side  by  the  imperial 
troops,  and  his  hereditary  domains  of  the  Palatinate  were  over* 
run  by  twenty  thousand  Spaniards.  His  subjects,  alarmed  at 
his  utter  inefficiency,  and  terrified  by  the  calamities  which  were 
falling,  like  avalanche  after  avalanche  upon  them,  became  dis* 
satisfied  with  him,  and  despairing  respecting  their  own  fate. 
He  was  a  Calvinist,  and  the  Lutherans,  had  never  warmly  re- 
ceived him.  The  imj^otent  monarch,  instead  of  establishing 
himself  in  the  affections  of  his  subjects,  by  vigorously  driving 
the  invaders  from  his  realms,  with  almost  inconceivable  silli- 
ness  endeavored  to  win  their  popularity  by  balls  and  smiles, 
pleasant  words  and  masquerades.  In  fact,  Frederic,  by  his 
utter  inefficiency,  was  a  foe  more  to  be  dreaded  by  Bohemia 
than  Ferdinand. 

The  armies  of  the  emperor  pressed  on,  thro^vdng  the  whole 
kingdom  into  a  state  of  consternation  and  dismay.  The  army 
of  Frederic,  which  dared  not  emerge  from  its  intrenchmeuta 
at  Pritznitz,  about  fifty  miles  south  of  Prague,  consisted  of 
but  twenty-two  thousand  men,  poorly  armed,  badly  clothed, 
wretchedly  supplied  with  military  stores,  and  almost  in  a  state 
of  mutiny  from  arrears  of  pay.  The  generals  were  in  pei-- 
plexity  and  disagreement.  Some,  in  the  recklessness  of  de- 
spair, were  for  marching  to  meet  the  foe  and  to  lisk  a  battle ; 
others  were  for  avoiding  a  conffict,  and  thus  protracting  the 
war  till  the  severity  of  winter  should  drive  their  enemies  from 
Uie  field,  when  they  W3uld  have  some  time  to  prepare  for 


PBRDINAND     H.  269 

onother  year's  campaign.  These  difficulties  led  Frederic  to 
apply  for  a  trace.  But  Ferdinand  was  too  wise  to  lose  by 
wasting  time  in  negotiations,  vantage  ground  he  had  already 
gained.  He  refused  to  listen  to  any  word  except  the  une- 
quivocal declaration  that  Frederic  relinquished  all  right  to  the 
crown.  Pressing  his  forces  onward,  he  drove  the  Bohemians 
from  behind  their  ramparts  at  Pritznitz,  and  pursued  them 
down  the  Moldau  even  to  the  walls  of  Prague. 

Upon  a  magnificent  eminence  called  the  White  Mountain, 
which  commanded  the  city  and  its  most  important  approaches, 
the  disheartened  array  of  Frederic  stopped  in  its  flight,  and 
made  its  last  stand.  The  enemy  were  in  hot  pursuit.  The 
Bohemians  in  breathless  haste  began  to  throw  up  intrench- 
ments  along  the  ravines,  and  to  plant  their  batteries  on  the 
hills,  when  the  banners  of  Ferdinand  were  seen  approaching. 
The  emperor  was  too  energetic  a  warrior  to  allow  his  panic- 
stricken  foes  time  to  regain  their  courage.  "Without  an  hour's 
delay  he  urged  his  victorious  columns  to  the  charge.  The 
Bohemians  fought  desperately,  with  far  more  spirit  than  could 
have  been  expected.  But  they  were  overpowered  by  num- 
bers, and  in  one  short  hour  the  army  of  Frederic  was  an. 
nihilated.  Four  thousand  were  left  dead  upon  the  field,  one 
thousand  were  drowned  in  the  frantic  attempt  to  swim  the 
Moldau,  and  the  rest  were  either  dispersed  as  fugitives  over 
hill  and  valley  or  taken  captive.  The  victory  of  the  emperor 
was  complete,  the  hopes  of  Frederic  crushed,  and  the  fate  of 
Bohemia  sealed. 

The  contemptible  Frederic,  while  this  fierce  battle  was 
raging  beneath  the  very  walls  of  his  capital,  instead  of  placing 
himself  at  the  head  of  his  troops,  was  in  the  heart  of  the  city, 
in  the  banqueting-hall  of  his  palace,  bowing  and  smiling  and 
feasting  his  friends.  The  Prince  of  Anhalt,  who  was  in  com- 
mand of  the  Bohemian  army,  had  sent  a  most  urgent  message 
to  the  king,  intreating  him  to  dispatch  immediately  to  his  aid 
all  the  troops  in  the  city,  and  especially  to  repair  himself  tc 


260  THK     HOUSE     OF     AUSTRIA. 

the  camp  to  encourage  the  troops  by  bis  presence.  Fredens 
vraa  at  the  table  when  he  received  this  message,  and  sent  w(M^ 
back  that  he  could  not  come  until  after  dinner.  As  soon  as 
the  combat  commenced,  another  still  more  urgent  message  was 
sent,  to  which  he  returned  the  same  reply.  After  dinner  he 
mounted  his  horse  and  rode  to  the  gate  which  led  to  the 
White  Mountain.  The  thunders  of  the  terrible  battle  filled 
the  air  ;  the  whole  city  was  in  the  wildest  state  of  terror  and 
confusion  ;  the  gates  barred  and  barricaded.  Even  the  king 
could  not  get  out.  He  climbed  one  of  the  towers  of  the  wall 
and  looked  out  upon  the  gory  field,  strewn  with  corpses,  where 
his  army  had  heen^  but  was  no  more.  He  returned  hastily  to 
his  palace,  and  met  there  the  Prince  of  Anhalt,  who,  with  a 
few  fugitives,  had  succeeded  in  entering  the  city  by  one  of  the 
gates. 

The  city  now  could  not  defend  itself  for  an  hour.  The 
batteries  of  Ferdinand  were  beginning  to  play  upon  the  walls, 
when  Frederic  sent  out  a  flag  of  truce  soliciting  a  cessation  of 
hostilities  for  twenty-four  hours,  that  they  might  negotiate  re« 
specting  peace.  The  peremptory  reply  returned  was,  that 
thai'e  should  not  be  truce  for  a  single  moment,  unless  Fred* 
eric  would  renounce  all  pretension  to  the  crown  of  Bohemia. 
With  such  a  renunciation  truce  would  be  granted  S)r  eight 
hours.  Frederic  acceded  to  the  demand,  and  tlje  noise  of  war 
was  hashed. 


' 


CHAPTER    XVII. 

BERDINAND     II. 
From  1621  to  1629. 

fnttLAimnrr  of  Prbdkric. — Intrbatiks  of  thb  Citizbns  of  PBAOtrc — SBAMtriri 

?LiQHT  OF  Frederic. — Vengeance  inflicted  upon  Bohemia.— Protbstantmji  anc 
CIVIL  Freedom. — Vast  Powf.r  of  the  Emperor. — Alarm  of  Europe. — .Tames  I.— 
Treaty  of  Marriage  for  the  Prince  of  Walks. — Cardinal  Eiohelieu. — New 
Leaoub  of  tiir  Protf,stant8. — Desolating  War. — Defeat  of  thb  Kino  of  Df.n- 
MARK. — Enbegv  of  Wallenstein. — TRiuMpn  OF  Ferdinand. — New  Acts  of  In- 
tolerance.— Severities  in  Bohemia. — Df.solation  of  thb  Kingdom. — Dissatis- 
faction  OF  THE  DtTKB  OF    BaVARIA. — MEETING    OF  THB   CaTHOLIO    PrINOES. — Th» 

Emperor  hctmdled. 

THE  citizeii.-  of  Prague  were  indignant  at  the  pusillanimity 
of  Frederic.  In  a  body  they  repaired  to  the  palace  and 
tried  to  rouse  his  feeble  spirits.  They  urged  him  to  adopt  a 
manly  resistance,  and  offered  to  mount  the  I'araparts  and  beat 
off  the  foe  until  succor  could  arrive.  But  Frederic  told  them 
that  he  had  resolved  to  leave  Prague,  that  he  should  escape 
during  the  darkness  of  the  night,  and  advised  them  to  capitu- 
late on  the  most  favorable  terras  they  could  obtain.  The  in- 
habitants of  the  city  were  in  despair.  They  knew  that  they 
had  nothing  to  hope  from  the  clemency  of  the  conqueror,  and 
thai  there  was  no  salvation  for  them  fi-ora  irretrievable  ruin 
bat  in  the  most  desperate  warfare.  Even  now,  though  the 
enemy  was  at  their  gates,  their  situation  was  by  no  means 
hopeless  with  a  leader  of  any  energy. 

"  We  have  still,"  they  urged,  "  sufficient  sti  ength  to  with- 
fltand  a  siege.  The  city  is  not  invested  on  every  side,  and 
reinforcements  can  enter  by  some  of  the  gates.  We  have 
ample  means  in  the  city  to  support  all  the  trrops  which  can 


262  THE    nousK  of   Austria, 

be  assembled  within  its  walls.  Tlie  soldiers  who  have  escaped 
from  the  disastrous  battle  need  but  to  see  the  Bohemian  ban* 
ners  again  unfurled  and  to  hear  the  blast  of  the  bugle,  to  re* 
turn  to  their  ranks.  Eight  thousand  troops  are  within  8  few 
hours*  march  of  us.  There  is  another  strong  band  in  the  rear 
of  the  enemy,  prepared  to  cut  oflf  their  communicationa. 
Several  strong  fortresses,  filled  with  arms  and  ammnnitioo, 
are  still  in  our  possession,  and  the  Bohemians,  animated  by  the 
remembrance  of  the  heroic  deeds  of  thdr  ancestors,  are  eager 
to  reti'ieve  their  fortunes." 

Had  Fi  ederic  possessed  a  tithe  of  the  perseverance  and 
energy  of  Ferdinand,  with  these  resources  he  might  soon  have 
arrested  the  steps  of  the  conqueror.  Never  was  the  eharao' 
teristic  remark  of  Napoleon  to  Ney  better  veiified,  that  *'  an 
army  of  deer  led  by  a  lion  is  better  than  an  army  of  lions  led 
by  a  deer."  Frederic  was  panic-stricken  for  fear  he  might 
fell  into  the  hands  of  Ferdinand,  from  whom  he  well  knew  that 
he  was  to  expect  no  mercy.  With  ignominious  haste,  aban- 
doning every  thing,  even  the  coronation  regalia,  at  midnight, 
snrronnded  by  a  few  friends,  he  stole  out  at  one  of  the  gates 
of  the  city,  and  putting  spurs  to  his  horse,  allowed  himself  no 
rest  until  he  was  safe  within  the  walls  of  Berlin,  two  hundred 
miles  from  Prague. 

The  despairing  citizens,  thus  deserted  by  their  sovereign, 
and  with  a  victorious  foe  at  their  very  walls,  had  no  alterna- 
tive  but  to  throw  open  their  gates  and  submit  to  the  mercy  of 
the  conqueror.  The  next  day  the  whole  imperial  anny,  under 
the  Duke  of  Bavaria,  with  floating  banners  and  exultant  mu- 
sic,  entered  the  streets  of  the  capital,  and  took  possession  of  the 
palaces.  The  tyrant  Ferdinand  was  as  vengeful  and  venomous 
as  he  was  vigorous  and  unyielding.  The  city  was  immediately 
disarmed,  and  the  government  intrnsted  to  a  vigorous  Roman 
Catholic  prince,  Charles  of  Lichtenstein.  A  strong  garrison 
was  left  in  the  city  to  crush,  with  a  bloody  hand,  any  indioa* 
tions  of  insurrection,  and  then  the  I>ake  of  Bavaria  retomed 


FERDINAND     II,  268 

with  most  of  his  army  to  Munich,  bis  capital,  totteting  be> 
neath  the  burden  of  plunder. 

There  wa*  a  moment's  lull  before  the  tempest  of  imperiai 
wrath  burst  upon  doomed  Bohemia.  Ferdinand  seemed  to 
deliberate,  and  gather  his  strength,  that  he  might  strike  a 
blow  which  would  be  felt  forever.  He  did  strike  such  a  blow 
— one  which  has  been  remembered  for  two  hundred  years,  and 
which  will  not  be  forgotten  for  ages  to  come— one  which 
doomed  parents  and  children  to  weary  years  of  vagabondage, 
penury  and  woe  which  must  have  made  life  a  burden. 

On  the  night  of  the  2l8t  of  January,  three  months  after 
the  capitulation,  and  when  the  inhabitants  of  Prague  had  be- 
gun to  hope  that  there  might,  after  all,  be  some  mercy  in  the 
bosom  of  Ferdinand,  forty  of  the  leading  citizens  of  the  place 
were  simultaneously  arrested.  They  were  torn  from  their  fami- 
lies  and  throAvn  into  dungeons  where  they  were  kept  in  terrific 
suspense  for  four  montha  They  were  then  brought  before  an 
imperial  commission  and  condemned  as  guilty  of  high  treason. 
All  their  property  was  confiscated,  nothing  whatever  being 
left  for  their  helpless  families.  Twenty-three  were  immediate 
ly  executed  upon  the  scaffold,  and  all  the  rest  were  either  con* 
signed  to  life-long  imprisonment,  or  driven  iuto  banishment. 
Twenty  seven  other  nobles,  who  had  escaped  from  the  king- 
dom, were  declared  traitors.  Their  castles  were  seized,  their 
property  confiscated  and  presented  as  rewards  to  Roman  Cath« 
olic  nobles  who  were  the  friends  of  Ferdinand,  An  order 
was  then  issued  for  all  the  nobles  and  landholders  throughout 
the  kingdom  to  send  in  a  confession  of  whatever  aid  they  had 
rendered,  or  encouragement  they  had  given  to  the  insurree> 
tion.  And  the  most  terrible  vengeance  was  threatened  against 
any  ou'  who  should  afterward  be  proved  guilty  of  any  ad 
whatever  of  which  he  had  not  made  confession.  The  oonste^ 
nation  which  this  decree  excited  was  so  great,  that  not  only 
was  every  one  anxious  to  confess  the  slightest  act  which  could 
be  construed  as  unfriendly  to  the  emperor,  but  many,  in  then 


264  THE     H0U3K     OF     AUSiRlA. 

terror,  were  driven  to  accuse  themselves  of  guilt,  who  had 
taKcn  no  shaie  in  the  movement.  Seven  hundred  nobles,  and 
the  whole  body  of  Protestant  landholders,  placed  their  names 
on  the  list  of  those  who  confessed  guilt  and  implored  pardon. 

The  fiend-like  emperor,  then,  in  the  mockery  of  mercy,  de- 
clared that  in  view  of  his  great  clemency  and  their  humble 
confession,  he  would  spare  their  forfeited  lives,  and  would  only 
punish  them  by  depriving  them  of  their  estates.  He  took  their 
mansions,  their  estates,  their  property,  and  turned  them  adrift 
apon  the  world,  with  their  wives  and  their  children,  fugitives 
and  penniless.  Thus  between  one  and  two  thousand  of  the 
most  ancient  and  noble  families  of  the  kingdom  were  rendered 
houseless  and  utterly  beggared.  Their  friends,  involved  with 
them  in  the  same  woe,  could  render  no  assistance.  They  were 
denounced  as  traitors ;  no  one  dared  befriend  them,  and  their 
possessions  were  given  to  those  who  had  rallied  beneath  the  ban- 
ners of  the  emperor.  "  To  the  victors  belong  the  spoils."  No 
pen  can  describe  the  ruin  of  these  ancient  families.  No  imagi- 
nation can  follow  them  in  their  steps  of  starvation  and  despair, 
untH  death  came  to  their  relief. 

Ferdinand  considered  Protestantism  and  rebellion  as  syn- 
onymous terms.  And  well  he  might,  for  Protestantism  has 
«ver  been  arrayed  as  firmly  against  civil  as  against  religious 
despotism.  The  doctrines  of  the  reformers,  from  the  days  of 
Luther  and  Calvin,  have  always  been  associated  with  political 
liberty.  Ferdinand  was  determined  to  crush  Protestantism. 
The  punishment  of  the  Elector  Palatine  was  to  be  a  signal  and 
an  appalling  warning  to  all  who  in  future  should  think  of  disput- 
ing the  imperial  sway.  The  elector  himself,  having  renounced 
the  throne,  had  escaped  beyond  the  emperor's  reach.  But  Fer- 
dinand took  possession  of  his  ancestral  territories  and  divided 
them  among  his  Roman  Catholic  allies.  The  electoral  vote 
which  he  held  in  the  diet  of  the  empire,  Ferdinand  transferred 
to  the  Duke  of  Bavaria,  thus  reducing  the  Protestant  vote  to 
two,  and  securing  an  additional  Catholic  suffrage.    The  ban  of 


FBRDINAND     II.  395 

the  empire  was  also  published  against  the  Prince  of  Anhalt, 
the  Count  of  Hohenloe,  and  the  Duke  Jaegendor^  who  had 
been  supporters  of  Frederic.  This  ban  of  the  empire  deprived 
them  of  their  territories,  of  their  rank,  and  of  their  posses- 
edons. 

The  Protestants  throughout  the  empire  were  terrified  by 
these  fierce  acts  of  vengeance,  and  were  fearful  of  sharing 
the  same  fate.  They  now  regretted  bitterly  that  they  had  dis 
banded  their  organization.  They  dared  not  make  any  move 
against  the  emperor,  who  was  flushed  with  pride  and  power, 
lest  he  should  pounce  at  once  upon  them.  The  emperor  con* 
eequently  marched  unimpeded  in  his  stem  chastisements, 
Frederic  was  thus  deserted  entirely  by  the  Protestant  union ; 
and  his  father-in-law,  James  of  England,  in  accordance  with 
his  threat,  refused  to  lend  him  any  aid.  Various  most  heroio 
eflforts  were  made  by  a  few  intrepid  nobles,  but  one  after 
another  they  were  crushed  by  the  iron  hand  of  the  emperor. 

Ferdinand,  having  thus  triumphed  over  all  his  foes,  and 
having  divided  their  domains  among  hb  own  followers,  called 
a  meeting  of  the  electors  who  were  devoted  to  his  caase,  at 
Batisbon,  on  the  26th  of  February,  1623,  to  confirm  what  he 
had  done.  In  every  portion  of  the  empire,  whjre  the  arm  of 
the  emperor  could  reach  them,  the  Protestants  wert  receiving 
heavy  blows.  They  were  now  thoroughly  alarmed  and  aroused. 
The  Catholics  all  over  Europe  were  renewing  their  league  ;  all 
the  Catholic  powers  were  banded  together,  and  Pi  otestantism 
seemed  on  the  eve  of  being  destroyed  by  thd  sword  of  perse- 
cution. 

Other  parts  of  Europe  also  began  to  look  with  alarm  upon 
the  vast  power  acquired  by  Austria.  There  was  but  Little  of 
conciliation  in  the  character  of  Ferdinand,  and  his  unbounded 
success,  while  it  rendered  him  more  haughty,  excited  also  the 
jealousy  of  the  neighboring  powers.  In  Lower  Saxony,  nearly 
all  the  nobles  and  men  of  influence  were  Protestants.  The 
principal  portion  of  the  ecclesiastical  property  was  in  their 


206  THB    HOU8B     OF     AUSTBIA. 

hands.  It  was  very  evident  that  unless  the  despotism  of  Fer- 
dinand was  checked,  he  would  soon  wrest  from  them  their 
titles  and  possessions,  and  none  the  less  readily  because  he  had 
succeeded  in  bribing  the  Elector  of  Saxony  to  remain  neutral 
while  he  tore  the  crown  of  Bohemia  from  the  Elector  of  the 
Palatine,  and  despoiled  him  of  his  wide-spread  ancestral  ter- 
ritories. 

James  I.  of  England  had  been  negotiating  a  marriage  of 
his  son,  the  Prince  of  Wales,  subsequently  Charles  L,  with 
the  daughter  of  the  King  of  Spain.  This  would  have  been, 
in  that  day,  a  brilliant  match  for  his  son ;  and  as  the  Span- 
ish monarch  was  a  member  of  the  house  of  Austria,  and  a 
cooperator  with  his  cousin,  the  Emperor  Ferdinand,  in  all  his 
measures  in  Germany,  it  was  an  additional  reason  why  Jamea 
should  not  interfere  in  defense  of  his  son-in-law,  Frederic  of 
the  Palatine.  But  now  this  match  was  broken  off  by  the  in- 
fluence of  the  haughty  English  minister  Buckingham,  who  had 
the  complete  control  of  the  feeble  mind  of  the  British  mon- 
arch. A  treaty  of  marriage  was  soon  concluded  between  the 
Prince  of  Wales  and  Henrietta,  a  princess  of  France.  There 
was  hereditary  hostility  between  France  and  Spain,  and  both 
England  and  France  were  now  quite  willing  to  humble  the 
house  of  Austria.  The  nobles  of  Lower  Saxony  availed  them- 
selves of  this  new  turn  in  the  posture  of  affairs,  and  obtained 
promises  of  aid  from  them  both,  and,  through  their  interces- 
sion, aid  also  from  Denmark  and  Sweden. 

Richelieu,  the  imperious  French  minister,  was  embar- 
rassed by  two  antagonistic  passions.  He  was  eager  to  humble 
the  house  of  Austria ;  and  this  he  could  only  do  by  lending 
ud  to  the  Protestants.  On  the  other  hand,  it  was  the  great 
object  of  his  ambition  to  restore  the  royal  authority  to  un- 
limited power,  and  this  he  could  only  accomplish  by  aiding 
the  house  of  Austria  to  crush  the  Protestants,  whose  love  of 
freedom  all  despots  have  abhorred.  Impelled  by  these  con- 
flicting passions,  he  did  all  in  his  power  to  extirpate  Protest- 


rSBDIMANDIT  267 

Mitism  from  France,  while  he  omitted  neither  Inres  nor  m- 
trigues  to  urge  the  Protestants  in  Germany  to  rise  against  the 
despotism  of  Austria,  Gustavus  Adolphus,  of  Sweden,  waa 
personally  inimical  to  Ferdinand,  in  consequence  of  injuries 
he  had  received  at  his  hands.  Christian  IV.  of  Denmark  waa 
cousin  to  Elizabeth,  the  mother  of  Frederic,  and,  in  addition 
to  this  interest  in  the  conflict  which  relationship  gave  him,  he 
was  also  trembling  lest  some  of  his  own  possessions  should 
soon  be  wrested  from  him  by  the  all-grasping  emperor.  A 
year  was  employed,  the  year  1624,  in  innumerable  secret  m 
trigues,  and  plans  of  combination,  for  a  general  rising  of  the 
Protestant  powers.  It  was  necessary  that  the  utmost  secreoy 
should  be  observed  in  forming  the  coalition,  and  that  aft 
should  be  ready,  at  the  same  moment,  to  cooperate  against  a 
foe  so  able,  so  determined  and  so  powerful. 

Matters  being  thus  essentially  arranged,  the  States  of  Lower 
Saxony,  who  were  to  take  the  lead,  held  a  meeting  at  Sege- 
berg  on  the  25th  of  March,  1625.  They  formed  a  league  for 
the  preservation  of  their  religion  and  liberties,  settled  the 
amount  of  money  and  men  which  each  of  the  contracting  par- 
ties was  to  furnish,  and  chose  Christian  IV.,  King  of  Denmark, 
their  leader.  The  emperor  had  for  some  time  suspected  that 
a  confederacy  was  in  the  process  of  formation,  and  had  kept  a 
watchful  eye  upon  every  movement.  The  vail  was  now  laid 
aside,  and  Christian  IV.  issued  a  proclamation,  stating  the 
reasons  why  they  had  taken  up  arms  against  the  emperor. 
This  was  the  signal  for  a  blaze  of  war,  which  wrapped  all 
northern  Europe  in  a  wide  conflagration.  Victory  ebbed 
and  flowed.  Bohemia,  Hungary,  Denmark,  Austria — all  the 
States  of  the  empire,  were  swept  and  devastated  by  pursuing 
and  retreating  armies.  But  gradually  the  emperor  gained. 
First  he  overwhelmed  all  opposition  in  Lower  Saxony,  and 
nveting  anew  the  shackles  of  despotism,  rewarded  his  follow- 
ers with  the  spoils  of  the  vanquished.  Then  he  silenced  every 
murmur  in  Austria,  so  that  no  foe  dared  lift  up  the  voice  oi 


16B  THE     HOUSE     OF     AUSTRIA. 

peep.  Then  he  poured  his  legions  into  Hungary,  swept  back 
the  tide  of  victory  which  had  been  following  the  Hungarian 
banners,  and  struck  blow  after  blow,  until  Gabriel  Bethlehem 
was  compelled  to  cry  for  peace  and  mercy.  Bohemia,  pre- 
viously disarmed  and  impoverished,  was  speedily  struck  down. 

And  now  the  emperor  turned  his  energies  against  the 
panic-stricken  King  of  Denmark.  He  pursued  him  from  for- 
tress to  fortress  ;  attacked  him  in  the  open  field,  and  beat 
him ;  attacked  him  behind  his  intrenchments,  and  drove  him 
from  them  through  the  valleys,  and  over  the  hills,  across 
rivers,  and  into  forests ;  bombarded  his  cities,  plundered  his 
provinces,  shot  down  his  subjects,  till  the  king,  reduced  almost 
to  the  last  extremity,  implored  peace.  The  emperor  repelled 
his  advances  with  scorn,  demanding  conditions  of  debasement 
more  to  be  dreaded  than  death.  The  King  of  Denmark  fled 
to  the  isles  of  the  Baltic.  Ferdinand  took  possession  of  the 
shores  of  this  northern  sea,  and  immediately  commenced  with 
vigor  creating  a  fleet,  that  he  might  have  sea  as  well  as  land 
forces,  that  he  might  pursue  the  Danish  monarch  over  the 
water,  and  that  he  might  more  effectually  punish  Gustavus 
Adolphus  of  Sweden.  He  had  determined  to  dethrone  this 
monarch,  and  to  transfer  the  crown  of  Sweden  to  Sigismond, 
his  brother-in-law.  King  of  Poland,  who  was  almost  as  zealous 
a  Roman  Catholic  as  was  the  emperor  himself. 

He  drove  the  two  Dukes  of  Mecklenburg  from  their  ter- 
ritory, and  gave  the  rich  and  beautiful  duchy,  extending  along 
the  south-eastern  shore  of  the  Baltic,  to  his  i-enowned  general, 
Wallenstein.  This  fieice,  ambitious  warrior  was  made  gen- 
eralissimo of  all  the  imperial  troops  by  land,  and  admiral  of 
the  Baltic  sea.  Ferdinand  took  possession  of  all  the  ports, 
from  the  mouth  of  the  Keil,  to  Kolberg,  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Persante.  Wismar,  on  the  magnificent  bay  bearing  the  same 
name,  was  made  the  great  naval  depot ;  and,  by  building, 
buying,  hiring  and  robbing,  the  emperor  soon  collected  quite 
a  formidable  fleet.     The  immense  duchy  of  Pomerania  was 


FEKDINAND      II.  269 

just 'north-east  of  Mecklenburg,  extending  along  the  eastern 
shore  of  the  Baltic  sea  some  hundred  and  eighty  miles,  and 
about  sixty  miles  in  breadth.  Though  the  duke  had  iu  no  way 
displeased  Ferdinand,  the  emperor  grasped  the  maguiticeut 
duchy,  and  held  it  by  the  power  of  his  resistless  armies. 
Crossing  a  narrow  arm  of  the  sea,  lie  took  the  rich  and  pop 
ulcus  islands  of  Rugen  and  Usedom,  and  laid  siege  to  the  city 
of  Stralsund,  which  almost  commanded  the  Baltic  sea. 

The  kings  of  Sweden  and  Denmark,  appalled  by  the  rapid 
strides  of  the  imperial  general,  united  all  their  strength  to  re- 
dst  him.  They  threw  a  strong  garrison  into  Stralsund,  and 
sent  the  fleets  of  both  kingdoms  to  aid  in  repelHng  the  attack, 
and  succeeded  in  baffling  all  the  attempts  of  Wallenstein,  and 
finally  in  driving  him  off",  though  he  had  boasted  that  "  he 
would  reduce  Stralsund,  even  if  it  were  bound  to  heaven  A\nth 
chains  of  adamant."  Though  fi-ustiated  in  this  attempt,  the 
armies  of  Ferdinand  had  swept  along  so  resistlessly,  that  the 
King  of  Denmark  was  ready  to  make  almost  any  sacrifice  fo. 
peace.  A  congress  was  accordingly  held  at  Lubec  in  May,  1629, 
when  peace  was  made  ;  Ferdinand  retaining  a  large  portion 
of  his  conquests,  and  the  King  of  Denmark  engaging  no  Jonger 
to  interfere  in  the  affairs  of  the  empire. 

Ferdinand  was  now  triumphant  over  all  his  foes.  The 
Protestants  throughout  the  empire  were  crushed,  and  all  their 
allies  vanquished.  He  now  deemed  himself  omnipotent,  and 
with  wild  ambition  contemplated  the  utter  extirpation  of  Prot- 
estantism, and  the  subjugation  of  nearly  all  of  Europe  to  his 
sway.  He  formed  the  most  intimate  alliance  with  the  branch 
of  his  house  ruling  over  Spain,  hoping  that  thus  the  house  of 
Austria  might  be  the  arbiter  of  the  fate  of  Europe.  The 
condition  of  Europe  at  that  time  was  peculiarly  favorable  for 
the  designs  of  the  emperor,  Charles  I.  of  England  was  strug- 
gling against  that  Parliament  which  soon  deprived  him  both 
of  his  crown  and  his  head.  France  was  agitated,  from  tha 
Rhine  to  the  Pyrenees,  by  civil  war,  the  Catholics  striving  tc 


270  THE      HOUSE     OF     AUSTRIA. 

exterminate  the  Protestants.  Insurrections  in  Turkey  absorbcMi 
all  the  energies  of  the  Ottoman  court,  leaving  them  no  time 
to  think  of  interfering  with  the  affairs  of  Europe.  The  King 
of  Denmark  was  humiliated  and  prostrate.  Sweden  was  lOO 
far  distant  and  too  feeble  to  excite  alarm.  Sigismond  of  Po- 
land was  in  intimate  alliance  with  the  emperor.  Gabriel  Beth. 
lehem  of  Hungary  was,  languishing  on  a  bed  of  disease  and 
pain,  and  only  asked  permission  to  die  in  peace. 

The  first  step  which  the  emperor  now  took  was  to  revoke 
all  the  concessions  which  had  been  granted  to  the  Protestanta 
In  Upper  Austria,  where  he  felt  especially  strong,  he  abolished 
the  Protestant  worship  utterly.  In  Lower  Austria  he  wai 
slightly  embarrassed  by  engagements  which  he  had  so  solemnly 
made,  and  dared  not  trample  upon  them  without  some  lit- 
tle show  of  moderation.  First  he  prohibited  the  circulation 
of  all  Protestant  books ;  he  then  annulled  all  baptisms  and 
marriages  performed  by  Protestants  ;  then  all  Protestants  were 
excluded  from  holding  any  civil  or  military  office  ;  then  he  is- 
sued a  decree  that  all  the  children,  without  exception,  should 
be  educated  by  Catholic  priests,  and  that  every  individasd 
should  attend  Catholic  worship.  Thus  coil  by  coil  he  wound 
around  his  subjects  the  chain  of  unrelenting  intolerance. 

In  Bohemia  he  was  especially  severe,  apparently  delighting 
to  punish  those  who  had  made  a  struggle  for  civil  and  relig- 
ious liberty.  Every  school  teacher,  university  professor  and 
Christian  minister,  was  ejected  from  office,  and  their  places  in 
schools,  universities  and  churches  were  supplied  by  Catholic 
monks.  No  person  was  allowed  to  exercise  any  mechanical 
trade  whatever,  unless  he  professed  the  Roman  Catholic  :^th. 
A  very  severe  fine  was  inflicted  upon  any  one  who  should  be 
detected  worshiping  at  any  time,  even  in  family  prayer,  ac- 
cording to  the  doctrines  and  customs  of  the  Protestant  chur<^ 
Protestant  marriages  were  pronounced  illegal,  their  children 
illegitimate,  their  wills  invalid.  The  Protestant  poor  were 
driven  from  the  hospitals  and  the  alms-houses.     No  Protestant 


FERDINAND     II.  271 

was  allowed  to  reside  in  the  capital  city  of  Prague,  but,  what- 
ever his  wealth  or  rank,  he  was  driven  ignominiously  from  the 
metropolis. 

In  the  smaller  towns  and  remote  provinces  of  the  kingdom, 
a  military  force,  accompanied  by  Jesuits  and  Capuchin  fiiars, 
sought  out  the  Protestants,  and  they  were  exposed  to  every 
conceivable  insult  and  indignity.  Their  houses  were  pillaged, 
their  wives  and  children  surrendered  to  all  the  outrages  of  a 
cruel  soldiery  ;  many  were  massacred  ;  many,  hunted  like  wild 
beasts,  were  driven  mto  the  forest ;  many  were  put  to  the  tor- 
ture, and  as  their  bones  were  crushed  and  quivering  nerves 
were  torn,  they  were  required  to  give  in  their  adhesion  to  the 
Catholic  faith.  The  persecution  to  which  the  Bohemians  were 
subjected  has  perhaps  never  been  exceeded  in  severity. 

While  Bohemia  was  writhing  beneath  these  woes,  the  em- 
peror, to  secure  the  succession,  repaired  in  regal  pomp  to 
Prague,  and  crowned  his  son  King  of  Bohemia.  He  then  is- 
sued a  decree  abolishing  the  right  which  the  Bohemians  had 
claimed,  to  elect  their  king,  forbade  the  use  of  the  Bohemian 
languagje  in  the  court  and  in  all  public  transactions,  and  an- 
nulled all  past  edicts  of  toleration.  He  proclaimed  that  no 
religion  but  the  Roman  Catholic  should  henceforth  be  toler- 
ated in  Bohemia,  and  that  all  who  did  not  immediately  return 
to  the  bosom  of  the  Church  should  be  banished  from  the  king- 
dom. This  cruel  edict  drove  into  banishment  thirty  thousand 
families.  These  Protestant  families  composed  the  best  portion 
of  the  community,  including  the  m6st  illustrious  in  rank,  the 
most  intelligent,  the  most  industrious  and  the  most  virtuous. 
Ho  State  could  meet  with  such  a  loss  without  feeling  it  deeply, 
and  Bohemia  has  never  yet  recovered  from  the  blow.  One  of 
the  Bohemian  historians,  himself  a  Roman  Catholic,  thus  de- 
scribes the  change  which  persecution  wrought  in  Bohemia : 

"  The  records  of  history  scarcely  fumisli  a  similar  examjJe 
of  such  a  change  as  Bohemia  underwent  during  the  reign  of 
Ferdinand  II.     In  1620,  the  monks  and  a  few  of  the  nobility 


872  THE     H0TT8E     OP     AUSTRIA. 

only  excepted,  the  whole  country  was  entirely  Protestant.  At 
the  death  of  Ferdinand  it  was,  in  appearance  at  least,  Catholic 
Till  the  battle  of  the  White  Mountain  the  States  enjoyed  more 
exclusive  privileges  than  the  Parliament  of  England.  They 
enacted  laws,  imposed  taxes,  contracted  alliances,  declared 
war  and  peace,  and  chose  or  confirmed  their  kings.  But  all 
these  they  now  lost. 

"Till  this  fetal  period  the  Bohemians  were  daring,  un- 
daunted, enterprising,  emulous  of  feme ;  now  they  have  lost 
all  their  courage,  their  national  pride,  their  enterprising  spirit. 
Their  courage  lay  buried  in  the  White  Mountain.  Individuals 
8tiU  possessed  personal  valor,  military  ardor  and  a  thirst  of 
glory,  but,  blended  with  other  nations,  they  resembled  the 
waters  of  the  Moldau  which  join  those  of  the  Elbe.  These 
miited  streams  bear  ships,  overflow  lands  and  overturn  rocks ; 
yet  the  Elbe  is  only  mentioned,  and  the  Moldau  forgotten. 

"  The  Bohemian  language,  which  had  been  used  in  all  the 
courts  of  justice,  and  which  was  in  high  estimation  among  the 
nobles,  fell  into  contempt.  The  German  was  introduced,  be- 
came the  general  language  among  the  nobles  and  citizens,  and 
was  used  by  the  monks  in  their  sermons.  The  inhabitants  of 
the  towns  began  to  be  ashamed  of  their  native  tongue,  which 
was  confined  to  the  villages  and  called  the  language  of  peas- 
ants. The  arts  and  sciences,  so  highly  cultivated  and  esteemed 
under  Rhodolph,  sunk  beyond  recovery.  During  the  period 
which  immediately  followed  the  banishment  of  the  Protestants, 
Bohemia  scarcely  produced  one  man  who  became  eminent  ia 
any  branch  of  learning.  The  greater  part  of  the  schools  were 
conducted  by  Jesuits  and  other  monkish  orders,  and  nothing 
taught  therein  but  bad  Latin. 

*•  It  can  not  be  denied  that  several  of  the  Jesuits  were  men 
of  great  learaing  and  science ;  but  their  system  was  to  keep 
the  people  in  ignorance.  Agreeably  to  this  principle  they 
gave  their  scholars  only  the  rind,  and  kept  to  themselves  the 
pulp  of  literature.    With  this  view  they  traveled  from  town  to 


rEBMlTAND     II.  273 

iown  as  missionariee,  and  went  from  house  to  house,  examine 
ing  aJI  books,  which  the  landlord  was  compelled  unde.**  pain  of 
eternal  damnation  to  produce.  The  greater  part  they  confis- 
cated and  burnt.  They  thus  endeavored  to  extinguish  the 
ancient  litei  ature  of  the  country,  labored  to  persuade  the  stu- 
dents that  betbre  the  introduction  of  their  order  into  Bohe- 
mia nothing  but  ignorance  prevailed,  and  carefully  concealed 
the  learned  labors  and  even  the  names  of  our  ancestors." 

Ferdinand,  having  thus  bound  Bohemia  hand  and  foot,  and 
having  accomplished  all  his  purpose  in  that  kingdom,  now  en- 
deavored, by  cautious  but  very  decisive  steps,  to  expel  Prot- 
estant doctrines  from  all  parts  of  the  German  empire.  Decree 
succeeded  decree,  depriving  Protestants  of  their  rights  and 
conferring  upon  the  Roman  Catholics  wealth  and  station.  He 
had  a  powerful  and  triumj^hant  standing  army  at  his  control, 
under  the  energetic  and  bigoted  Wallenstein,  ready  and  able 
to  enforce  his  ordinauces*  No  Protestant  prince  dared  to 
make  any  show  of  resistance.  All  the  church  property  waa 
torn  from  the  Protestants,  and  this  vast  sum,  together  with 
the  confiscated  toiritories  of  those  Protestant  princes  or  no- 
bles who  had  ventured  to  resist  the  emperor,  placed  at  his  dis- 
posal a  large  fund  fi-om  which  to  reward  his  followers.  The 
emperor  kept,  however,  a  large  portion  of  the  spoils  in  his  own 
hands  for  the  enriching  of  his  own  family. 

This  state  of  things  soon  alarmed  even  the  Catholics.  The 
emperor  was  growing  too  powerful,  and  his  power  was  bear' 
mg  profusely  its  natural  fruit  of  pride  and  arrogance.  The 
army  was  insolent,  trampling  alike  upon  friend  and  foe.  Aa 
there  was  no  longer  any  war,  the  army  had  become  merely 
the  sword  of  the  emperor  to  maintain  his  despotism.  Wallen- 
stein had  become  so  essential  to  the  emperor,  and  possessed 
such  power  at  the  head  of  the  army,  that  he  assumed  all  the 
air  and  state  of  a  sovereign,  and  insulted  the  highest  nobles 
and  the  most  powerful  bishops  by  him  assumptions  of  superior- 
ity.    The  electors  of  the  empire  perceiving  that  the  emperor 


t?4  THB     H01TSS     OF     AUSTBIA. 

was  centroli^fflfi^  power  in  his  own  hands,  and  that  they  would 
Boon  become  merely  provincial  governors,  compelled  to  obey 
his  laws  and  subject  to  his  appointment  and  removal,  began  to 
whisper  to  each  other  their  alarm. 

The  Duke  of  Bavaria  was  one  of  the  most  powerful  princes 
of  the  German  empire.  He  had  been  the  rival  of  Count  Wal 
enstein,  and  was  now  exceedingly  annoyed  by  the  arrogance  of 
this  haughty  military  chief.  Wallenstein  was  the  emperor'g 
light  arm  of  strength.  Inflamed  by  as  intense  an  ambition  as 
ever  burned  in  a  human  bosom,  every  thought  and  eoergjf 
was  devoted  to  self-aggrandizement.  He  had  been  ednoatecl 
a  Protestant,  but  abandoned  those  views  for  the  Catholic  faith 
which  opened  a  more  alluring  field  to  ambition.  Sacrificing 
the  passions  of  youth  he  married  a  widow,  infinaa  and  of  ad- 
vanced age,  but  of  great  wealth.  The  death  of  his  wrinkled 
bride  ooon  left  him  the  vast  property  without  incumbrance. 
He  then  entered  into  a  matrimonial  alliance  which  favored 
his  political  prospects,  marrying  Isabella,  the  daughter  of 
Count  Harruch,  who  was  one  of  the  emperor's  greatest  &• 
vorites. 

When  Ferdinand's  fortunes  were  at  a  low  ebb,  and  he  knew 
not  in  which  way  to  find  either  money  or  an  army,  Wallen- 
stein offered  to  raise  fifty  thousand  men  at  his  own  expense, 
to  pay  their  wages,  supply  them  with  arms  and  all  the  muni- 
tions of  war,  and  to  call  upon  the  emperor  for  no  pecuniary 
assistance  whatever,  if  the  emperor  would  allow  him  to  rettun 
the  plunder  he  could  extort  from  the  conquered.  Upon  this 
majestic  scale  Wallenstein  planned  to  act  the  part  of  a  high* 
wayman.  Ferdinand's  necessities  were  so  great  that  he  glad* 
ly  availed  himself  of  this  infamous  offer.  Wallenstein  made 
money  by  the  bargain.  Wherever  he  marched  he  compelled 
the  people  to  support  his  army,  and  to  support  it  luxuriously. 
The  emperor  had  now  constituted  him  admiral  of  the  Baltic 
fleet,  and  had  conferred  upon  him  the  title  of  duke,  with  the 
splendid  dochy  of  Meddenburg,  and  the  principality  of  Sagsa 


FBRDINAND     II.  S98 

in  Silesia.  His  overbearing  conduct  and  his  enormous  extor* 
tions — he  having,  in  seven  years,  wrested  from  the  German 
princes  more  than  four  hundred  million  of  dollars — excited  a 
general  feeling  of  discontent,  in  which  the  powerful  Duke  of 
Bavaria  took  the  lead. 

Envy  is  a  stronger  passion  than  political  religion.  Zealous 
as  the  Duke  of  Bavaria  had  been  in  the  cause  of  the  papal 
church,  he  now  forgot  that  church  in  his  zeal  to  abase  an  ar- 
rogant and  insulting  rival.  Richelieu,  the  prime  minister  of 
France,  was  eagerly  watching  for  opportunities  to  humiliate 
the  house  of  Austria,  and  he,  with  alacrity,  met  the  advances 
of  the  Duke  of  Bavaria,  and  conspired  with  him  to  form  a  Cath- 
olic league,  to  check  the  ambition  of  Wallenstein,  and  to  arrest 
the  enormous  strides  of  the  emperor.  With  this  object  in  view, 
a  large  number  of  the  most  powerful  Catholic  princes  met  at 
Heidelberg,  in  March,  1629,  and  passed  resolutions  soliciting 
Ferdinand  to  summon  a  diet  of  the  German  empire  to  tak« 
into  consideration  the  evils  occasioned  by  the  army  of  Wallen- 
stein, and  to  propose  a  remedy.  The  emperor  had,  in  his 
arrogance,  commanded  the  princes  of  the  various  States  in 
the  departments  of  Suabia  and  Franconia,  to  disband  their 
troops.  To  this  demand  they  returned  the  bold  and  spirited 
reply, 

"Till  we  have  received  an  indemnification,  or  a  pledge  for 
the  payment  of  our  expenses,  we  will  neither  disband  a  single 
soldier,  nor  relinquish  a  foot  of  territory,  ecclesiastical  or  secu- 
lar, demand  it  who  wiU.'''* 

The  emperor  did  not  venture  to  disregard  the  request  for 
him  to  summon  a  diet.  Indeed  he  was  anxious,  on  his  own 
account,  to  convene  the  electors,  for  he  wished  to  secure  the 
election  of  his  son  to  the  throne  of  the  empire,  and  he  needed 
wiccors  to  aid  him  in  the  ambitious  wars  which  he  was  waging 
in  various  and  distant  parts  of  Europe.  The  diet  was  assem- 
bled at  Ratisbon :  the  emperor  presided  in  person.  As  he  had 
important  favors  to  solicit,  he  assumed  a  very  conciliatory  ton« 


876  THE      HOUSE     OF     AOSTRlA. 

He  expressed  his  regret  that  the  troops  had  been  guilty  of  such 
dieorders,  and  promised  immediate  redress.  He  then,  suppos- 
ing that  his  promise  would  be  an  ample  satisfaction,  very  gra- 
ciously solicited  of  them  the  succession  of  the  imperial  throne 
for  his  son,  and  supplies  for  his  army. 

But  the  electors  were  not  at  all  in  a  pliant  mood.  Some 
were  resolved  that,  at  all  hazards,  the  imperial  army,  which 
threatened  Germany,  should  be  reduced,  and  that  Wallenstein 
should  be  dismissed  from  the  command.  Others  were  equally 
determined  that  the  crown  of  the  empire  should  not  descend 
to  the  son  of  Ferdinand.  The  Duke  of  Bavaria  headed  the 
party  who  would  debase  Wallenstein ;  and  Cardinal  Richelieu, 
with  all  the  potent  influences  of  intrigue  and  bribery  at  the 
command  of  the  French  court,  was  the  soul  of  the  party  re- 
solved to  wrest  the  crown  of  the  empire  from  the  bouse  of 
Austria,  Kichelieu  sent  two  of  the  most  accomplished  diplo- 
matists France  could  furnish,  as  ambassadors  to  the  diet,  whoj 
while  maintaining,  as  far  as  possible,  the  guise  of  friendship, 
were  to  do  every  thing  in  their  power  to  thwart  the  election 
of  Ferdinand's  son.  These  were  supplied  with  inexhaustible 
means  for  the  purchase  of  votes,  and  were  authorized  to  make 
any  promises,  however  extravagant,  which  should  be  deemed 
essential  for  the  attainment  of  their  object. 

Ferdinand,  long  accustomed  to  have  his  own  way,  was  not 
anticipating  any  serious  resistance.  He  was  therefore  amazed 
and  confounded,  when  the  diet  returned  to  him,  instead  of 
their  humble  submission  and  congratulations,  a  long,  detailed, 
emphatic  remonstrance  against  the  enormities  perpetrated  by 
the  imperial  army,  and  demanding  the  immediate  reduction 
of  the  army,  now  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  strong,  and 
the  dismission  of  Wallenstein,  before  they  could  proceed  to 
any  other  business  whatever.  This  bold  stand  animated  the 
Protestant  princes  of  the  empire,  and  they  began  to  be  clam- 
orous for  their  rights.  Some  of  the  Catholics  even,  espoused 
their  cause,  warning  Ferdinand  that,  unless  he  granted  the 


FERDINAND    II.  Vfi 

FroteBtants  some  degree  of  toleration,  they  would  seek  redress 
by  joining  the  enemies  of  the  empire. 

It  would  have  been  impossible  to  frame  three  demands 
more  obnoxious  to  the  emperor.  To  crush  the  Protestants 
had  absorbed  the  energies  of  his  life ;  and  now  that  they  were 
utterly  prostrate,  to  lift  them  up  and  place  them  on  their  feet 
again,  was  an  idea  he  could  not  endure.  The  imperial  army 
had  been  his  supple  tool.  By  its  instrumentality  he  had 
gained  all  his  power,  and  by  its  energies  alone  he  retained 
that  power.  To  disband  the  army  was  to  leave  himself  de- 
fenseless. Wallenstein  had  been  every  thing  to  the  emperor, 
and  Ferdinand  still  needed  the  support  of  his  inflexible  and 
unscrupulous  energies.  Wallenstein  was  in  the  cabinet  of  tta 
emperor  advising  him  in  this  hour  of  perplexity.  His  counsel 
was  characteristic  of  his  impetuous,  headlong  spirit.  He  ad- 
vised the  emperor  to  pour  his  army  into  the  territory  of  the 
Duke  of  Bavaria ;  chastise  him  and  all  his  associates  for  their 
insolence,  and  thus  overawe  the  rest.  But  the  Duke  of  Ba- 
varia was  in  favor  of  electing  the  emperor's  son  as  his  suc- 
cessor on  the  throne  of  the  empire ;  and  Ferdinand's  heart 
was  fixed  upon  this  object. 

"Dismiss  Wallenstein,  and  reduce  the  army,*'  said  the 
Duke  of  Bavaria,  "  and  the  Catholic  electors  will  vote  for 
your  son ;  grant  the  required  toleration  to  the  Protestants, 
and  they  will  vote  for  him  likewise." 

The  emperor  yielded,  deciding  in  his  own  mind,  aided  by 
the  Jesuitical  suggestions  of  a  monk,  that  he  could  after- 
wards recall  Wallenstein,  and  assemble  anew  his  dispersed 
battalions.  He  dismissed  sixteen  thousand  of  his  best  cav- 
alry ;  suspended  some  of  the  most  obnoxious  edicts  against 
the  Protestants,  and  implored  Wallenstein  to  resign  his  post. 
The  emperor  was  teiribly  afraid  that  this  proud  general  would 
refuse,  and  would  lead  the  army  to  mutiny.  The  emperor 
accordingly  accompanied  his  request  with  every  expression 
of  gratitude  and  regret,  and  assured  the  general  of  his  coo- 


9V8  THE     HOUSE      OF     AUSTRIA. 

tinued  favor.  Wallenstein,  well  aware  that  the  disgrace 
would  be  but  temporary,  quietly  yielded.  He  dismissed  the 
envoys  of  the  emperor  with  presents,  wrote  a  very  submis- 
sive letter,  and,  with  much  osteotatioa  <^'  obedieuce,  retiretl 
to  private  life. 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 

FBRDINAND    IL    AXD    GUSTAVU8    ADOLPHOa 

Fbom  1629  TO  1632. 
YaxATioN  OF  FBBDiNAin>.--0<raTAVU8  Ai>ou>airs.— Addbkss  to  ths  Noblbb  or  SwBinK. 

— MaEOH  of  QuSTAVUS. — AfFEAL  to  the    PbOTBSTANTS. — MAODEBtTRO   JOINS   6o»- 

TAVU8. — Destruction  of  thb  City. — Constbbnation  of  thk  Peotestaitts. — Ex- 

BXTATION  of  thb  CATHOLICS. —ThE  ELBOTOB  OF  SaXONT  DRIVEN  FROM  HIS  DOMAINS.— 

Battle  of  Leipsic. — The  Swedes  pensteatb  Bohemia. — Fbeboom  of  CoNsorBNOi 
BBTABLisuED. — Death  op  Tillt The  Ebtiebment  op  Wallenstein. — The  Com- 
mand resumed  by  Wallenstein. — Capture  of  Prague. — Encounter  betwesr 
Wallenstein  and  Gubtatus.— Battlb  of  Lutzen.— Death  of  Gustavus. 

THE  hand  of  France  was  conspicuous  in  wresting  all  these 
sacrifices  from  the  emperor,  and  was  then  still  more  con- 
spicuous in  thwarting  his  plans  for  the  election  of  his  son. 
The  ambassadors  of  Richelieu,  with  diplomatic  adroitnesa^ 
urged  upon  the  diet  the  Duke  of  Bavaria  as  candidate  for  the 
imperial  crown.  Tliis  tempting  offer  silenced  the  duke,  and 
he  could  make  no  more  efforts  for  the  emperor.  The  Prot- 
estants greatly  preferred  the  duke  to  any  one  of  the  race  of 
the  bigoted  Ferdinand.  The  emperor  was  excessively  cha- 
grined by  this  aspect  (^afl^rs,  and  abruptly  dissolved  the  diet. 
He  felt  that  he  had  been  duped  by  France ;  that  a  cunning 
monk,  Richelieu's  ambassador,  had  outwitted  him.  In  his 
vexation  he  exclaimed,  ^^  A  Capuchin  friar  has  disarmed  me 
with  his  rosary,  and  covered  six  electoral  caps  with  his 
oowl.»* 

Hie  emperor  was  meditating  vengeance — ^the  recall  of 
Wallenstein,  the  reconstructioc  of  the  army,  the  annulling  of 
the  edict  of  toleration,  the  march  of  an  invading  force  into  the 
tmritories  of  the  Duke  of  Bavaria,  and  the  chastisement  of 


880  THE     HOTTSS     OF     A  IT  S  T  B  I  A  . 

all,  Catholics  as  well  as  Protestants,  who  bad  aided  in  thwart' 
ing  his  plans — when  suddenly  a  new  enemy  appeared.  Gus- 
tavus  Adolphus,  King  of  Sweden,  reigning  over  his  remote 
realms  on  the  western  shores  of  the  Baltic,  though  a  zealous 
Protestant,  was  regarded  by  Ferdinand  as  a  foe  too  distant 
and  too  feeble  to  be  either  respected  or  feared.  But  Gus- 
tavus,  a  man  of  exalted  abilities,  and  of  vast  energy,  was 
watching  with  intense  interest  the  despotic  stiides  of  the  em- 
peror. In  his  endeavors  to  mediate  in  behalf  of  the  Protest- 
ants of  Germany,  he  had  encountered  repeated  insults  on  the 
part  of  Ferdinand.  The  imperial  troops  were  now  approach- 
ing his  own  kingdom.  They  had  driven  Christian  IV.,  King 
of  Denmark,  from  his  continental  territories  on  the  eastern 
shore  of  the  Baltic,  had  already  taken  possession  of  several  of 
the  islands,  and  were  constructing  a  fleet  which  threatened 
the  command  of  that  important  sea.  Gustavus  was  alarmed, 
and  roused  himself  to  assume  the  championship  of  the  civil 
and  religious  libeities  of  Europe.  He  conferred  with  all  the 
leading  Protestant  princes,  formed  alliances,  secured  funds, 
stationed  troops  to  protect  his  own  fi-ontiers,  and  then,  aa- 
Bembiing  the  States  of  his  kingdom,  entailed  the  succession 
of  the  crown  on  his  only  child  Christiana,  explained  to  them 
bis  plans  of  war  against  the  emperor,  and  concluded  a  digni- 
fied and  truly  pathetic  harangue  with  the  following  words, 

"  The  enterprise  in  which  I  am  about  to  engage  is  not 
one  dictated  by  the  love  of  conquest  or  by  personal  ambition. 
Our  honor,  our  religion  and  our  independence  are  imperiled. 
X  am  to  encounter  great  dangers,  and  may  fall  upon  the  field 
of  battle.  If  it  be  God's  will  that  I  should  die  in  the  defense 
of  liberty,  of  my  country  and  of  mankind,  I  cheerfully  sun'en- 
der  myself  to  the  sacrifice.  It  is  my  duty  as  a  sovereign  to 
obey  the  King  of  kings  without  murmuring,  and  to  resign  the 
power  I  have  received  from  His  hands  whenever  it  shall  suit 
His  ali-wise  purposes.  I  shall  yield  up  my  last  breath  with  the 
firm  persuasion  that  Providence  will  support  my  subjects  be- 


PSBDINAND    II.     AND    QUSTAVUS     AD0LPHU8.      281 

cause  they  are  faithful  and  vutuous,  and  that  my  ministers, 
generals  and  senators  will  punctually  discharge  their  duty  to 
my  child  because  they  love  justice,  respect  me,  and  feel  for 
their  country." 

The  king  himself  was  affected  as  he  uttered  these  words, 
and  tears  moistened  the  eyes  of  many  of  the  stem  warrionsi 
who  surrounded  him.  With  general  acclaim  they  approved  of 
bis  plan,  voted  him  all  the  succors  he  required,  and  enthusi- 
astically offered  their  own  fortunes  and  lives  to  his  service. 
Gustavus  assembled  a  fleet  at  Elfsnaben,  crossed  the  Baltic 
sea,  and  in  June,  1630,  landed  thu-ty  thousand  troops  in 
Pomerania,  which  Wallenstein  had  overrun.  The  imperial 
army,  unprepared  for  such  an  assault,  fled  before  the  Swedish 
king.  Marching  rapidly,  Gustavus  took  Stettin,  the  capital 
of  the  duchy,  situated  at  the  mouth  of  the  Oder,  and  com- 
manding that  stream,  Diiving  the  imperial  troops  everywhere 
before  him  from  Pomerania,  and  pursuing  them  into  the  ad- 
joining Mark  of  Brandenburg,  he  took  possession  of  a  large  part 
of  that  territory.  He  issued  a  proclamation  to  the  inhabitants 
of  Germany,  recapitulating  the  arbitrary  and  despotic  acts  of 
the  emperor,  and  calling  upon  all  Protestants  to  aid  in  an  en- 
terprise, in  the  success  of  which  the  very  existence  of  Protest- 
antism in  Germany  seemed  to  be  involved.  But  so  utterly 
had  the  emperor  crushed  the  spirits  of  the  Protestants  by  his 
fiend-like  severity,  that  but  few  ventured  to  respond  to  his 
appeal.  The  rulers,  however,  of  many  of  the  Protestant 
States  met  at  Leipsic,  and  without  venturing  to  espouse  the 
cause  of  Gustavus,  and  without  even  alluding  to  his  invasion, 
they  addressed  a  letter  to  the  emperor  demanding  a  redress 
of  grievances,  and  informing  him  that  they  had  decided  to 
establish  a  permanent  council  for  the  direction  of  their  own 
affairs,  and  to  raise  an  army  of  forty  thousand  men  for  their 
own  protection. 

Most  of  these  events  had  occurred  while  the  emperor,  with 
Wallenstein,  was  at  Ratisbon,  intriguing  to  secure  the  succea- 


THB     HOUSE    OF     AUSTRIA. 

^n  of  the  imperial  crown  for  his  son.  They  both  looked  upcMI 
the  march  of  the  King  of  Sweden  into  the  heart  of  Germany 
as  the  fool-hardy  act  of  a  mad  adventurer.  The  courtiers  ridi- 
culed his  transient  conquests,  saying,  **  Gustavus  Adolphus  is 
a  king  of  snow.  Like  a  snowball  he  will  melt  in  a  southern 
clime."  Wallenstein  was  particularly  contemptuous.  "  I  will 
whip  him  back  to  his  country,"  said  he,  "  like  a  truant  school- 
boy, with  rods."  Ferdinand  was  for  a  time  deceived  by  these 
representations,  and  was  by  no  means  aware  of  the  real  peril 
which  threatened  him.  The  diet  which  the  emperor  bad  as- 
sembled made  a  proclamation  of  war  against  Gustavus,  but 
adopted  no  measures  of  energy  adequate  to  the  occasion.  The 
emperor  sent  a  silly  message  to  Gustavus  that  if  he  did  not 
retire  immediately  from  Germany  he  would  attack  him  w«th 
his  whole  force.  To  this  folly  Gustavus  returned  a  contempt- 
uous reply. 

A  few  of  the  minor  Protestant  princes  now  ventured  to 
take  arms  and  join  the  standard  of  Gustavus.  The  important 
city  of  Magdeburg,  in  Saxony,  on  the  Elbe,  espoused  his  cause. 
This  city,  with  its  bastions  and  outworks  completely  com- 
manding the  Elbe,  formed  one  of  the  st longest  fortresses  of 
Europe.  It  contained,  exclusive  of  its  strong  garrison,  thirty 
thousand  inhabitants.  It  was  now  evident  to  Ferdinand  that 
vigorous  action  was  called  for.  He  could  not,  consistently 
with  his  dignity,  recall  Wallenstein  in  the  same  breath  with 
which  he  had  dismissed  him.  He  accordingly  concentrated 
his  troops  and  placed  them  under  the  command  of  Count 
Tilly.  The  impeiial  troops  were  diepatched  to  Magdebui^. 
They  surrounded  the  doomed  city,  assailed  it  furiously,  and 
proclaimed  their  intention  of  making  it  a  signal  mark  of  im- 
perial vengeance.  Notwithstanding  the  utmost  efforts  of 
Gustavus  to  hasten  to  their  relief^  he  was  foiled  in  his  en 
deavors,  and  the  town  was  carried  by  assault  on  the  10th  erf 
May,  Never,  perhaps,  did  earth  witness  a  more  cruel  exhl 
bition  of  the  horrors  of  war.    The  soul  sickens  in  the  contem 


FERDINAND    II.     AND    OUSTAVU8     AD0LPHU8.      288 

platiou  of  outrages  so  fiend-like.  We  prefer  to  give  the  nar- 
rative  of  these  deeds,  which  it  is  the  duty  of  history  to  record, 
in  the  language  of  another. 

"  All  the  horrors  ever  exercised  against  a  captured  place 
were  repeated  and  almost  surpassed,  on  this  dreadful  event, 
which,  notwithstanding  all  the  subsequent  disorders  and  the 
lapse  of  time,  is  still  fresh  in  the  recoUectiou  of  its  inhabitants 
and  of  Germany.  Neither  age,  beauty  nor  innocence,  neither 
infancy  nor  decrepitude,  found  refuge  or  compassion  from  the 
fury  of  the  licentious  soldiery.  No  retreat  was  sufficiently  se- 
cure to  escape  their  rapacity  and  vengeance ;  no  sanctuary 
sufficiently  sacred  to  repress  their  lust  and  cruelty.  Infanta 
were  murdered  before  the  eyes  of  their  parents,  daughters 
and  wives  violated  in  the  arms  of  their  fathers  and  husbands. 
Some  of  the  imperial  officers,  recoiling  fi"om  this  terrible  scene, 
flew  to  Count  Tilly  and  supplicated  him  to  put  a  stop  to  the 
carnage.  '  Stay  yet  an  hour,'  was  his  barbarous  reply  ;  '  let 
the  soldier  have  some  compensation  for  his  dangers  and  far 
tigues.' 

"  The  troops,  left  to  themselves,  after  sating  their  passions, 
and  almost  exhausting  their  cruelty  in  three  hours  of  pillage 
and  massacre,  set  fire  to  the  town,  and  the  flames  were  in  an 
instant  spread  by  the  wind  to  every  quarter  of  the  place. 
Then  opened  a  scene  which  surpassed  all  the  former  horrors. 
Those  who  had  hitherto  escaped,  or  who  were  forced  by  the 
flames  from  their  hiding-places,  experienced  a  more  dreadful 
fate.  Numbers  were  driven  into  the  Elbe,  others  massacred 
with  every  species  of  savage  barbarity — the  wombs  of  preg- 
nant women  ripped  up,  and  infants  thrown  into  the  fire  or 
impaled  on  pikes  and  suspended  over  the  flames.  History  has 
BO  terms,  poetry  no  language,  painting  no  colors  to  depict 
all  the  horrors  of  the  scene.  In  less  than  ten  hours  the  most 
rich,  the  most  flourishing  and  the  most  populous  town  in  Ger- 
many was  reduced  to  ashes.  The  cathedral,  a  single  convent 
and  a  few  miserable  huts,  were  all  that  were  left  of  its  numer 


284  THE     HOUSE     OP    AITSTBIA, 

oas  buildings,  and  scarcely  more  than  a  thousand  muH  tSi  tbit 
remained  of  more  than  thirty  thousand  inhabitants. 

"  After  an  interval  of  two  days,  when  the  soldiers  vr&ta 
fatigued,  if  not  sated,  with  devastation  and  slaughter,  and  wheo 
the  flames  bad  begun  to  subside,  TUly  entered  the  town  in  Vri' 
amph.  To  make  room  for  his  passage  the  streets  were  cleared 
ftnd  six  thousand  carcasses  thrown  into  the  Elbe.  He  ordered 
the  pillage  to  cease,  pardoned  the  scanty  remnant  of  the  in- 
habitants,  who  had  taken  refuge  in  the  cathedral,  and,  sin> 
rounded  by  flames  and  carnage,  had  remained  three  days  with- 
out food  or  refreshment,  under  all  the  terrors  of  impending 
fete.  After  heaiing  a  Te  Deum  in  the  midst  of  military  pomp^ 
he  paraded  the  streets ;  and  even  though  his  unfeeling  heaK 
seemed  touched  with  the  horrors  of  the  scene,  he  could  doI 
refrain  from  the  savage  exultation  of  boasting  to  the  emperop, 
and  comparing  the  assault  of  Magdeburg  to  the  sack  of  Troy 
and  of  Jerusalem.'* 

This  terrible  display  of  vengeance  struck  the  Protestants 
with  consternation.  The  extreme  Catholic  party  were  exult> 
ant,  and  their  chiefs  met  in  a  general  assembly  and  passed  res- 
olutions approving  the  course  of  the  emperor  and  pledging 
him  their  support.  Ferdinand  was  much  encomaged  by  this 
change  in  his  favor,  and  declared  his  intention  of  silencing  all 
Protestant  voices.  He  recalled  an  army  of  twenty-four  thou- 
sand  men  from  Italy.  They  crossed  the  Alps,  and,  as  they 
marched  through  the  frontier  States  of  the  empire,  they  spread 
devastation  and  ruin  through  all  the  Protestant  territories, 
exacting  enormous  contributions,  compelling  the  Protestant 
princes,  on  oath,  to  renounce  the  Protestant  league,  and  to  nnka 
with  the  Catholic  confederacy  against  the  King  of  Sweden. 

In  the  meantime,  G-ustavus  pressed  forward  into  the  dnchy 
of  Mecklenburg,  driving  the  imperial  troops  before  him,  Tlliy 
retired  into  the  territory  of  the  Elector  of  Saxony,  robbii^, 
burning  and  destroying  everywhere.  Uniting  his  force  witJS 
the  army  from  Italy  be  ravaged  the  country,  resistlessly  ad- 


FERDINAND     II.     AND    GUSTAVU3    A  D  O  L  P  H  U  8  .    285 

vancing  even  to  Leipsic,  and  capturing  the  city.  The  elector, 
quite  unable  to  cope  with  so  powerful  a  foe,  retired  with  his 
troope  to  the  Swedish  camp,  where  he  entered  into  an  offensive 
and  defensive  alliance  with  Gustavus.  The  Swedish  army, 
thus  reinforced,  hastened  to  the  relief  of  Leipsic,  and  arrived 
before  its  walls  the  very  day  on  which  the  city  surrendered. 

Tilly,  with  the  pride  of  a  conqueror,  advanced  to  meet 
them.  The  two  armies,  about  equal  in  numbers,  and  com- 
manded by  their  renowned  captains,  met  but  a  few  miles  from 
the  city.  Neither  of  the  commanders  had  ever  before  suffered 
a  defeat.  It  was  a  duel,  in  which  one  or  the  other  must  falL 
Every  soldier  in  the  ranks  felt  the  sublimity  of  the  hour.  For 
some  time  there  was  marching  and  countermarching — the 
planting  of  batteries,  and  the  gathering  of  squadrons  and  solid 
columns,  each  one  hesitating  to  strike  the  first  blow.  At  last 
the  signal  was  given  by  the  discharge  of  three  pieces  of  cannon 
from  one  of  the  batteries  of  Tilly.  Instantly  a  thunder  peal  rolled 
along  the  extended  lines  from  wing  to  wing.  The  awful  work 
of  death  was  begun.  Hour  after  hour  the  fierce  and  bloody 
fight  continued,  as  the  surges  of  victory  and  defeat  swept  to 
and  fro  upon  the  plain.  But  the  ever  uncertain  fortune  of  bat- 
tle decided  in  favor  of  the  Swedes.  As  the  darkness  of  even* 
ing  came  prematurely  on,  deepened  by  the  clouds  of  smoke 
which  canopied  the  field,  the  imperialists  were  everywhere 
flying  in  dismay.  Tilly,  having  been  struck  by  three  balls, 
was  conveyed  from  the  field  in  excruciating  pain  to  a  vetreat 
in  Halle.  Seven  thousand  of  his  troops  lay  dead  upou  the 
field.  Five  thousand  were  taken  prisoners.  All  the  imperial 
artillery  and  baggage  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  conqueror. 
The  rest  of  the  army  was  so  dispersed  that  but  twa  thousand 
oonld  be  rallied  under  the  imperial  banners. 

Gustavus,  thus  triumphant,  dispatched  a  portion  of  his  army, 
under  tne  Elector  of  Saxony,  to  rescue  Bohemia  from  the  ty- 
rant grasp  of  the  emperor.  Gustavus  himself,  with  another 
portion,  marched  m  various  directions  to  cut  off  the  resources 


280  THE     HOUSB     OF     AUSTEIA. 

of  the  enemy  and  to  combine  the  scattered  parts  of  the  Proli 
estant  confederacy.  His  progress  was  like  the  tranquil  march 
of  a  sovereign  in  his  own  dominions,  greeted  by  the  enthua- 
asm  of  his  subjects.  He  descended  the  Maine  to  the  Rhine, 
and  then  ascending  the  Rhine,  took  every  fortress  from  Maine 
to  Strasbourg.  While  Gustavus  was  thus  extending  his  con* 
quests  through  the  very  heart  of  Germany,  the  Elector  of  Sax- 
ony reclaimed  all  of  Bohemia  from  the  imperial  arms.  Prague 
itself  capitulated  to  the  Saxon  troops.  Count  Thum  led  the 
Saxon  troops  in  triumph  over  the  same  bridge  which  he,  but  a 
fevr  months  before,  had  traversed  a  fugitive.  He  found,  im- 
paled upon  the  bridge,  the  shriveled  heads  of  twelve  of  his 
companions,  which  he  enveloped  in  black  satin  and  buried 
with  ftmeral  honors. 

The  Protestants  of  Bohemia  rose  enthusiastically  to  greet 
their  deliverers.  Their  churches,  schools  and  universities  were 
refistablished.  Their  preachers  resumed  their  functions.  Many 
returned  from  exile  and  rejoiced  in  the  restoration  of  their 
confiscated  property.  The  Elector  of  Saxony  retaliated  upon 
the  Catholics  the  cruel  wrongs  which  they  had  inflicted  upon 
the  Protestants.  Their  castles  were  plundered,  their  nobles 
driven  into  exile,  and  the  conquerors  loaded  themselves  with 
the  spoils  of  the  vanquished. 

But  Ferdinand,  as  firm  and  inexorable  in  adversity  as  ia 
prosperity,  bowed  not  before  disaster.  He  roused  the  Catho» 
Hos  to  a  sense  of  their  danger,  organized  new  coalitions,  raised 
new  armies.  Tilly,  with  recruited  forces,  was  urged  on  to  ar- 
rest the  march  of  the  conqueror.  Burning  under  the  sense  of 
shame  for  his  defeat  at  Leipsic,  he  placed  himself  at  the  head 
of  his  veterans,  tell,  struck  by  a  rausket-ball,  and  died,  after  a 
few  days  of  intense  suffering,  at  the  age  of  seventy-threo. 
The  vast  Austrian  empire,  composed  of  so  many  heterogeneous 
States,  bound  together  only  by  the  iron  energy  of  Ferdinand, 
seemed  now  upon  the  eve  of  its  dissolution.  The  Protestants, 
who  composed,  in  most  of  the  States  a  majority,  were  cordially 


FSBDINAND    II.     AND    OUSTAVUS    ADOLPHU8.    287 

rallying  beneath  the  banners  of  Gustavus.  They  had  been  ia 
a  state  of  despair.  They  now  rose  in  exalted  hope.  Many  of 
the  minor  piinces  who  had  been  nominally  Catholics,  but  whose 
Christian  creeds  wei-e  merely  political  dogmas,  threw  them* 
selves  into  the  arms  of  Gustavus.  Even  the  Elector  of  Bavaria 
was  so  helpless  in  his  isolation,  that,  champion  as  he  had  been 
of  the  Catholic  party,  there  seemed  to  be  no  salvation  for  him 
but  in  abandoning  the  oauge  of  Ferdinand.  Gustavus  was  now, 
with  a  victorious  array,  in  the  heart  of  Germany.  He  was  in 
possession  of  the  whole  western  country  from  the  Baltic  to  the 
frontiers  of  France,  and  apparently  a  majority  of  the  popul»> 
tion  were  in  sympathy  with  him. 

Ferdinand  at  fii-st  resolved,  in  this  dire  extremity,  to  as- 
sume himself  the  command  of  his  armies,  and  in  person  to  enter 
the  field.  This  was  heroic  madness,  and  his  friends  soon  con- 
vinced him  of  the  folly  of  one  so  inexperienced  in  the  arts  of 
war  undertaking  to  cope  with  Gustavus  Adolphus,  now  the 
most  experienced  and  renowned  captain  in  Europe.  He  then 
thought  of  appointing  his  son,  the  Archduke  Ferdinand,  com 
mander-in-chief.  But  Ferdinand  was  but  twenty-three  years 
of  age,  and  though  a  young  man  of  decided  abilities,  was  by 
no  means  able  to  encounter  on  the  field  the  skill  and  heroism 
of  the  Swedish  warrior.  In  this  extremity,  Ferdinand  was 
compelled  to  tmn  his  eyes  to  his  discarded  general  Wal- 
lenstein. 

This  extraordinary  man,  in  renouncing,  at  the  command 
of  his  sovereign,  his  military  supremacy,  retired  with  bound- 
less wealth,  and  assumed  a  style  of  living  surpassing  even 
regal  splendor.  His  gorgeous  palace  at  Prague  was  patrolled 
by  sentinels.  A  body-guard  of  fifty  halberdiers,  in  sumptaoua 
tmiform,  ever  waited  in  his  ante-chamber.  Twelve  nobles  at- 
tended his  person,  and  four  gentlemen  ushers  introduced  tc 
his  presence  those  whom  he  condescended  to  favor  with  an 
audience.  Sixty  pages,  taken  from  the  most  illustrious  famir 
lies,  embellished  his  courts.     His  steward  was  a  baron  of  tho 


288  THB     HOUSE     OP     AUSTRIA. 

highest  rank ;  and  even  the  chamberlain  of  the  emperor  had 
left  Ferdinand's  court,  that  he  might  serve  in  the  more 
princely  palace  of  this  haughty  subject.  A  hundred  guests 
dined  daily  at  his  table.  His  gardens  and  parks  were  em- 
bellished with  more  than  oriental  magnificence.  Even  hia 
stables  were  furnished  with  marble  mangers,  and  supplied 
with  water  from  an  ever-living  fountain.  Upon  his  journeya 
he  was  accompanied  by  a  suite  of  twelve  coaches  of  state  and 
fifty  carriages.  A  large  retinue  of  wagons  conveyed  his  plate 
and  equipage.  Fifty  mounted  grooms  followed  with  fifty  led 
horses  richly  caparisoned.* 

Wallenstein  watched  the  difficulties  gathering  around  the 
emperor  with  satisfaction  which  he  could  not  easily  disguise. 
Though  intensely  eager  to  be  restored  to  the  command  of 
the  armies,  he  afiected  an  air  of  great  indifference,  and  when 
the  emperor  suggested  his  restoration,  he  very  adroitly  played 
the  coquette.  The  emperor  at  first  proposed  that  his  son,  the 
Archduke  Ferdinand,  should  nominally  have  the  command, 
while  Wallenstein  should  be  his  executive  and  advisory  gen- 
eral, "  I  would  not  serve,"  said  the  impious  captain,  "  as  sec- 
ond in  command  under  God  Himself," 

After  long  negotiation,  Wallenstein,  with  well-feigned  re- 
luctance, consented  to  reUnquish  for  a  few  weeks  the  sweets 
of  private  life,  and  to  recruit  an  army,  and  bring  it  under 
suitable  discipline.  He,  however,  limited  the  time  of  his 
command  to  three  months.  With  his  boundless  wealth  and 
amazing  energy,  he  immediately  set  all  springs  in  motion. 
Adventurers  from  all  parts  of  Europe,  lured  by  the  splendor 
of  his  past  achievements,  crowded  his  ranks.  In  addition  to 
his  own  vast  opulence,  the  pope  and  the  court  of  Spain  opened 
freely  to  him  their  purses.  As  by  magic  he  was  in  a  few 
weeks  at  the  head  of  forty  thousand  men.  In  companies, 
regiments  and  battalions  they  were  incessantly  drilled,  and 
by  the  close  of  three  months  this  splendid  army,  thoroughly 
♦  Coxe'a  "House  of  Austria,"  ii.,  264. 


FERDINAND    II.   AND    QUSTAVUS    ADOLPHUS.      296 

^miished,  and  in  the  highest  state  of  discipline,  was  presented 
to  the  emperor.  I  very  step  he  had  taken  had  convinced, 
and  was  intended  to  convince  Ferdinand  that  his  salvation 
depended  upon  the  energies  of  Wallenstein.  Gustavus  was 
now,  in  the  full  tide  of  victory,  marching  from  the  Rhine 
to  the  Danube,  threatening  to  press  his  conquests  even  to 
Vienna.  Ferdinand  was  compelled  to  assume  the  attitude 
of  a  suppliant,  and  to  implore  his  proud  general  to  accept  the 
command  of  which  he  had  so  recently  been  deprived.  Wal- 
lenstein exacted  terms  so  humiliating  as  in  reality  to  divest 
the  emperor  of  his  imperial  power.  He  was  to  be  declared 
generalissimo  of  all  the  forces  of  the  empire,  and  to  be  in 
vested  with  unlimited  authority.  The  emperor  pledged  him- 
self that  neither  he  nor  hif  s-  r  would  ever  enter  the  camj.. 
Wallenstein  was  to  appoint  all  his  officers,  distribute  all  re» 
waids,  and  the  emperor  was  not  allowed  to  grant  either  a 
pardon  or  a  safe-conduct  without  the  confirmation  of  Wallen- 
stein. The  general  was  to  levy  what  contribution  he  pleased 
npon  the  vanquished  enemy,  confiscate  property,  and  no  peace 
or  truce  was  to  be  made  with  the  enemy  without  his  consent. 
Finally,  he  was  to  receive,  either  from  the  spoils  of  the  enemy, 
or  from  the  hei-editary  States  of  the  empire,  princely  remiv 
Deration  for  his  services. 

Armed  with  such  enormous  power,  Wallenstein  consented 
to  place  himself  at  the  head  of  the  army.  He  marched  to 
Prague,  and  without  difficulty  took  the  city.  Gradually  he 
drove  the  Saxon  troops  from  all  their  fortresses  in  Bohemia. 
Then  advancing  to  Bavaria,  he  effected  a  junction  with  Ba- 
varian troops,  and  found  himself  sufficiently  strong  to  attempt 
to  arrest  the  march  of  Gustavus.  The  imperial  force  now 
amounted  to  sixty  thousand  men.  Wallenstein  was  so  san- 
guine of  success,  that  he  boasted  that  in  a  few  days  he  would 
decide  the  question,  whether  Gustavus  Adolphus  or  Wallen- 
stein was  to  be  master  of  the  world.  The  Swedish  king  was 
at  Nuremberg  with  but  twenty  thousand  men,  when  he  heard 


200  THE     HOUSE     OP     AUSTRIA. 

of  the  approach  of  the  imperial  army,  three  times  outnumber- 
ing his  own.  Disdaining  to  retreat,  h  ;  threw  up  redoubts,  and 
prepared  for  a  desperate  defense.  As  Walleustein  brought 
np  his  heavy  battalions,  he  was  so  much  overawed  by  the 
military  genius  which  Gustavus  had  displayed  in  his  strong 
intrenchments,  and  by  the  bold  front  which  the  Swedes  pre- 
sented, that  notwithstanding  his  boast,  he  did  not  dare  to 
hazard  an  attack.  He  accordingly  threw  up  intrenchments 
opposite  the  works  of  the  Swedes,  and  there  the  two  armieB 
remained,  looking  each  other  in  the  face  for  eight  weeks, 
neither  daring  to  withdraw  from  behind  theu*  intrenchments, 
and  each  hoping  to  starve  the  other  party  out.  Gustavus  did 
every  thing  in  bis  power  to  provoke  Wallenstein  to  the  at- 
tack,  but  the  wary  general,  notwithstanding  the  importunities 
of  his  officers,  and  the  clamors  of  his  soldiers,  refused  to  risk 
an  engagement.  Both  parties  were  all  the  time  strengthening 
their  intrenchments  and  gathering  reinforcements. 

At  last  Gustavus  resolved  upon  an  attack.  He  led  his 
troops  against  the  intrenchments  of  Wallenstein,  which  re- 
sembled a  fortress  rather  than  a  camp.  The  Swedes  clambered 
over  the  intrenchments,  and  assailed  the  imperialists  with  as 
much  valor  and  energy  as  mortals  ever  exhibited.  They  were 
however,  with  equal  fury  repelled,  and  after  a  long  conflict 
were  compelled  to  retire  again  behind  their  fortifications  with 
the  loss  of  three  thousand  of  their  best  troops.  For  another 
fortnight  the  two  armies  remained  watching  each  other,  and 
then  Gustavus,  leaving  a  strong  garrison  in  Nuremberg,  slowly 
and  defiantly  retired.  Wallenstein  stood  so  much  in  fear  of 
the  tactics  of  Gustavus  that  he  did  not  even  venture  to  molest 
his  retreat.  During  this  singular  struggle  of  patient  endur- 
ance,  both  armies  suffered  fearfully  fi'om  sickness  and  famine. 
In  the  city  of  Nuremberg  ten  thousand  perished.  Gustavus 
buried  twenty  thousand  of  his  men  beneath  his  intrenchments. 
And  in  the  imperial  army,  after  the  retreat  of  Gustavus,  but 
thirty  thousand  troops  were  left  to  answer  the  roll-call. 


PBKDINAND     II.     AND     GU8TAVUS     AD0LPHTT8.      291 

Wallen Stein  claimed,  and  with  justice,  the  merit  of  having 
arrested  the  steps  of  Gustavus,  though  he  could  not  boast  of 
any  very  chivalrous  exploits.  After  various  maneuvering,  and 
desolating  marches,  the  two  armies,  with  large  reinforcements, 
met  at  Lutzen,  about  thirty  miles  from  Leipsic.  It  was  in  the 
edge  of  the  evening  when  they  arrived  within  sight  of  each 
other's  banners.  Both  parties  passed  an  anxious  night,  pre- 
paring  for  the  decisive  battle  which  the  dawn  of  the  morning 
would  usher  in. 

Wallenstein  was  fearfully  alarmed.  He  had  not  willingly 
met  his  dreaded  antagonist,  and  would  now  gladly  escape  the 
issues  of  battle.  He  called  a  council  of  war,  and  even  sug- 
gested a  retreat.  But  it  was  decided  that  such  an  attempt  in 
the  night,  and  while  watched  by  so  able  and  vigilant  a  foe, 
would  probably  involve  the  army  in  irretrievable  rnin,  besides 
exposing  his  own  name  to  deep  disgrace.  The  imperial  troops, 
thirty  thousand  strong,  quite  outnumbered  the  army  of  Gus- 
tavus, and  the  oflBcers  of  Wallenstein  unanimously  advised  to 
give  battle.  Wallenstein  was  a  superstitious  man  and  deeply 
devoted  to  astrological  science.  He  consulted  his  astrologers, 
and  they  declared  the  stars  to  be  unpropitious  to  Gustavus. 
This  at  once  decided  him.  He  resolved,  however,  to  act  on 
the  defensive,  and  through  the  night  employed  the  energies  of 
his  ai-my  in  throwing  up  intrenchments.  In  the  earliest  dawn 
of  the  morning  mass  was  celebrated  throughout  the  whole 
camp,  and  Wallenstein  on  horseback  rode  along  behind  the 
redoubts,  urging  his  troops,  by  every  consideration,  to  fight 
valiantly  for  their  emperor  and  their  religion. 

Tlie  morning  was  dark  and  lowering,  and  such  an  impene- 
trable fog  enveloped  the  armies  that  they  were  not  visible  to 
each  other.  It  was  near  noon  ere  the  fog  arose,  and  the  two 
armies,  in  the  full  blaze  of  an  unclouded  sim,  gazed,  awe- 
stricken,  upon  each  other.  The  imperial  troops  and  the  Swed- 
ish troops  were  alike  renowned  ;  and  Gustavus  Adolphus  and 
Wallenstein  were,  by  universal  admission,  the  two  ablest  cap- 


•  02  THE     HOUSE     OF     AUSTRIA. 

tains  in  Europe.  Neither  force  could  e\en  affect  to  despise 
the  other.  The  scene  unfolded,  as  the  vapor  swept  away,  was 
one  which  even  war  has  seldom  presented.  The  vast  plain 
of  Lutzen  extended  many  miles,  almost  as  smooth,  level  and 
treeless  as  a  western  prairie.  Through  the  center  of  th's  plain 
ran  a  nearly  straight  and  wide  road.  On  one  side  of  this 
road,  in  long  line,  extending  one  or  two  miles,  was  the  army 
of  Wallen stein.  His  whole  front  was  protected  by  a  ditch  and 
redoubts  bristling  with  bayonets.  Behind  these  intrenchments 
his  army  was  extended  ;  the  numerous  and  well-mounted  cav- 
alry at  the  wings,  the  artillery,  in  ponderous  batteries,  at  the 
center,  with  here  and  there  solid  squares  of  infantry  to  meet 
the  rush  of  the  assailing  columns.  On  the  other  side  of  the 
road,  and  within  musket-shot,  were  drawn  up  in  a  parallel  line 
the  troops  of  Gustavus.  He  ha,d  interspersed  along  his  double 
line  bands  of  cavalry,  with  artillery  and  platoons  of  musket- 
eeis,  that  he  might  be  prepared  from  any  point  to  make  or 
repel  assault.  The  whole  host  stood  reverently,  with  uncovered 
heads,  as  a  public  prayer  was  offered.  The  Psalm  which  Watts 
has  so  majestically  versified  was  read — 

"  God  is  the  refuge  of  his  saints, 

When  storms  of  dark  distress  invade;  ' 

Ere  we  can  offer  our  complaints, 
Behold  him  present  with  his  aid. 

"Let  mountains  from  their  seats  be  hurled 
Down  to  the  deep,  and  buried  there, 
Convulsions  shake  the  soUd  world ; 
Our  feith  shaU  never  yield  to  fear." 

From  twenty  thousand  voices  the  solemn  hymn  arose  and 
flo'ited  over  the  field— celestial  songs,  to  be  succeeded  by  de- 
moniac clangor.  Both  parties  appealed  to  the  God  of  bat- 
tle ;  both  parties  seemed  to  feel  that  their  cause  was  just. 
Alas  for  man ! 

Gustavus  now  ordered  the  attack.  A  solid  column  emerged 
from  his  ranks,  crossed  the  road,  in  breathless  sDence  ap- 
proached the  trenches,  while  both  armies  looked  on.     They 


FERDINAND     II.     AND     GUSTAVU8     AD0LPHU9.       39!- 

were  received  with  a  volcanic  sheet  of  flame  which  pros- 
trated half  of  them  bleeding  upon  the  sod.  Gustavus  or. 
dered  column  after  column  to  follow  on  to  support  the  assail- 
ants, and  to  pierce  the  enemy's  center.  In  his  zeal  he  threw 
himself  from  his  horse,  seized  a  pike,  and  rushed  to  head  the 
attack.  Wallenstein  energetically  ordered  up  cavalry  and  ar- 
tillery to  strengthen  the  point  so  fiercely  assailed.  And  now 
the  storm  of  war  blazed  along  the  whole  lines.  A  sulphureous 
canopy  settled  down  over  the  contending  hosts,  and  thunder- 
ings,  shrieks,  clangor  as  of  Pandemonium,  filled  the  air.  The 
king,  as  reckless  of  life  as  if  he  had  been  the  meanest  soldier, 
rushed  to  every  spot  where  the  battle  raged  the  fiercest. 
Learning  that  his  troops  upon  the  left  were  yielding  to  the 
imperial  fire,  he  mounted  his  horse  and  was  galloping  across 
the  field  swept  by  the  storm  of  war,  when  a  buUet  struck  his 
arm  and  shattered  the  bone.  Almost  at  the  same  moment 
another  bullet  struck  his  breast,  and  he  fell  mortally  wounded 
from  his  horse,  exclaiming,  "  My  God  !  my  God  !" 

The  command  now  devolved  upon  the  Duke  of  Saxe  Wei 
mar.  The  horse  of  Gustavus,  galloping  along  the  lines,  con- 
veyed to  the  whole  army  the  dispiriting  intelligence  that  their 
beloved  chieftain  had  fallen.  The  duke  spread  the  report  that 
he  was  not  killed,  but  taken  prisoner,  and  summoned  all  to  the 
rescue.  This  roused  the  Swedes  to  superhuman  exertions. 
They  rushed  over  the  ramparts,  driving  the  infantry  back  upon 
the  cavalry,  and  the  whole  imperial  line  was  thrown  into  con- 
fusion. Just  at  that  moment,  when  both  parties  were  in  the 
extreme  of  exhaustion,  when  the  Swedes  were  shouting  vic- 
tory and  the  imperialists  were  flying  in  dismay.  General 
Pappenheim,  with  eight  fresh  regiments  of  imperial  cavalry, 
came  galloping  upon  the  field.  This  seemed  at  once  to  restore 
the  battle  to  the  imperialists,  and  the  Swedes  were  apparently 
undone.  But  just  then  a  chance  bullet  struck  Pappenheim 
and  he  fell,  mortally  wounded,  from  his  horse.  The  cry  ran 
through  the  imperia.  ranks,  "Pappenheim  is  killed  and  the 


294  THE     HOUSE     OF     AUSTRIA. 

battle  is  lost."  No  further  efforts  of  Wallensteii.  were  of  any 
avail  to  arrest  the  confusion.  His  whole  host  turned  and  fleil, 
Fortunately  for  them,  the  darkness  of  the  approaching  night, 
and  a  dense  fog  settling  upon  the  plain,  concealed  them  from 
their  pursuers.  During  the  night  the  imperialists  retired,  and 
in  the  morning  the  Swedes  found  themselves  in  possession  of 
the  lield  with  no  foe  in  sight.  But  the  Swedes  had  no  heart 
to  exult  over  their  victory.  The  loss  of  their  beloved  king 
was  a  greater  calamity  than  any  defeat  could  have  been.  Hb 
mangled  body  was  found,  covered  with  blood,  in  the  midst  of 
heaps  of  the  slain,  and  so  much  mutilated  with  the  tramplings 
of  cavalry  as  to  be  with  difficulty  recognized. 


CHAPTER    XIX. 

FERDINAND  II.,  FERDINAND  III.  AND  LEOPOID  J 

From  1632  to  1662. 

Obabaoteb  of  Gustavus  Adolphub.— Exultation  of  the  Imperialists.— Disqraob 
OF  Wallknstein. — He  offers  to  surkendeb  to  the  Swedish  General.— His 
Assassination. — Ferdinand's  Son  elected  as  his  Successor. — Death  of  Fer- 
dinand.— Close  op  the  War.— Abdication  of  Christina. — Charles  Gustavtjs. 
—Preparations  for  War.— Death  of  Ferdinand  III.— Leoptld  elected  Em- 
PBROR.— Hostilities  Renewed.— Dbath  of  Charles  Gustavus.- Diet  convened. 
— Invasion  of  the  Turks. 

THE  battle  of  Lutzen  was  fought  on  the  16th  of  November, 
1632.  It  is  generally  estimated  that  the  imperial  troops 
were  forty  thousand,  while  there  were  but  twenty-seven  thou- 
sand in  the  Swedish  army.  Gustavus  was  then  thirty-eight 
years  of  age.  A  plain  stone  still  marks  the  spot  where  he  fell. 
A  few  poplars  surround  it,  and  it  has  become  a  shrine  visited 
by  strangers  fi-om  all  parts  of  the  world.  Traces  of  his  blood 
are  still  shown  in  the  town-house  of  Lutzen,  where  his  body 
was  transported  from  the  fatal  field.  The  buiF  waistcoat  he 
wore  in  the  engagement,  pierced  by  the  bullet  which  took  his 
life,  is  preserved  as  a  trophy  in  the  arsenal  at  Vienna. 

Both  as  a  monarch  and  a  man,  this  illustrious  sovereign 
Btands  in  the  highest  ranks.  He  possessed  the  peculiar  power 
of  winning  the  ardent  attachment  of  all  who  approached  him. 
Every  soldier  in  the  army  was  devoted  to  him,  for  he  shared 
all  their  toils  and  perils.  "  Cities,"  he  said,  "  are  not  taken  by 
keeping  in  tents ;  as  scholars,  in  the  absence  of  the  master, 
shut  their  books,  so  my  troops,  without  my  presence,  would 
■lacken  their  blows." 

In  very  many  traits  of  character  he  resembled  Napoleon, 


296  THB     HOUSE     OF      AUSTRIA. 

combining  in  his  genius  the  highest  attributes  of  the  statesmaa 
and  the  soldier.  Like  Napoleon  he  was  a  predestinarian,  be- 
lieving  himself  the  child  of  Providence,  raised  for  the  accom- 
plishment of  great  purposes,  and  that  the  decrees  of  his  des- 
tiny no  foresight  could  thwart.  When  urged  to  spare  hii 
person  in  the  peril  of  battle,  he  replied, 

"  My  hour  is  written  in  heaven,  and  can  not  be  reversed." 
Frederic,  the  unhappy  Elector  of  the  Palatine,  and  King  of 
Bohemia,  who  had  been  driven  from  his  realms  by  Ferdinand, 
and  who,  for  some  years,  had  been  wandering  from  court  to 
court  in  Europe,  seeking  an  asylum,  was  waiting  at  Mentz, 
trusting  that  the  success  of  the  armies  of  Gustavus  would  soon 
restore  him  to  his  throne.  The  death  of  the  king  shattered 
all  his  hopes.  Disappointment  and  chagrin  threw  him  into  a 
fever  of  which  he  died,  in  the  thirty-ninth  year  of  his  age. 
The  death  of  Gustavus  was  considered  by  the  Catholics  such 
a  singular  interposition  of  Providence  in  their  behalf,  that, 
regardless  of  the  disaster  of  Lutzen,  they  surrendered  them- 
selves to  the  most  enthusiastic  joy.  Even  in  Spain  bells  were 
rung,  and  the  streets  of  Madrid  blazed  with  bonfires  and  illu- 
minations. At  Vienna  it  was  regarded  as  a  victory,  and  7i 
Deums  were  chanted  in  the  cathedral.  Ferdinand,  however, 
conducted  with  a  decorum  which  should  be  recorded  to  his 
honor.  He  expressed  the  fullest  appreciation  of  the  grand 
qualities  of  his  opponent,  and  in  graceful  words  regretted  his 
untimely  death.  When  the  bloody  waistcoat,  perforated  by 
the  bullet,  was  shown  him,  he  turned  from  it  with  utterances 
of  sadness  and  regret.  Even  if  this  were  all  feigned,  it  shows 
a  sense  of  external  propriety  worthy  of  record. 

It  was  the  genius  of  Gustavus  alone  which  had  held  to- 
gether the  Protestant  confederacy.  No  more  aid  of  any  effi- 
ciency could  be  anticipated  from  Sweden.  Christina,  th* 
daughter  and  heiress  of  Gustavus,  was  in  her  seventh  year. 
The  crown  was  claimed  by  her  cousin  Ladislaus,  the  King  of 
Poland,  and  this  disputed  succession  threatened  the  kingdom 


FEBDINAKD   II.  3f» 

with  the  calami  ies  of  civil  war.  The  Senate  of  Sweden  in 
this  emergence  londucted  with  great  prudence.  That  they 
might  secure  an  honorable  peace  they  presented  a  bold  front 
of  war.  A  council  f  regency  was  appointed,  abundant  suc- 
cors in  men  and  mon.y  voted,  and  the  Chancellor  Oxenstiern, 
a  man  of  commanding  civil  and  military  talents,  was  intrusted 
with  the  sole  conduct  of  the  war.  The  Senate  declared  the 
young  queen  the  legitimate  successor  to  the  throne,  and  for- 
bade all  allusion  to  the  claims  of  Ladislaus,  under  the  penalty 
of  high  treason. 

Oxenstiern  proved  himself  worthy  to  be  the  successor  of 
Gustavus.  He  vigorously  renewed  alliances  with  the  German 
princes,  and  endeavored  to  follow  out  the  able  plans  sketched 
by  the  departed  monarch,  Wallenstein,  humiliated  by  his  de- 
feat, had  fallen  back  into  Bohemia,  and  now,  with  moderation 
strangely  inconsistent  with  his  previous  career,  urged  the  em- 
peror to  conciliate  the  Protestants  by  publishing  a  decree  of 
general  amnesty,  and  by  proposing  peace  on  favorable  terms. 
But  the  iron  will  of  Ferdinand  was  inflexible.  In  heart,  exult- 
ing that  his  most  formidable  foe  was  removed,  he  resolved  with 
unrelenting  vigor  to  prosecute  the  war.  The  storm  of  battle 
raged  anew ;  and  to  the  surprise  of  Ferdinand,  Oxenstiern 
moved  forward  with  strides  of  victory  as  signal  as  those  of 
his  illustrious  predecessor.  Wallenstein  meanly  attempted  to 
throw  the  blame  of  the  disaster  at  Lutzen  upon  the  alleged 
cowardice  of  his  oflScers.  Seventeen  of  them  he  hanged,  and 
consigned  fifty  others  to  infamy  by  inscribing  their  names 
upon  the  gallows. 

So  haughty  a  man  could  not  but  have  many  enemies  at 
court.  They  combined,  and  easily  persuaded  Ferdinand,  who 
had  also  been  insulted  by  his  arrogance,  again  to  degrade 
him.  Wallenstein,  informed  of  their  machinations,  endeav- 
ored to  rally  the  army  to  a  mutiny  in  his  favor.  Ferdinand, 
alarmed  by  this  intelligence,  which  even  threatened  his  own 
dethronement,  immediately  dismissed  Wallenstein  from  the 


£99  THE      HOUSE     OF     AUSTRIA. 

eommand,  ar  1  dispatched  officers  from  V^ienna  to  seize  his 
person,  dead  or  alive.  This  reused  Wa  lenstein  to  despera- 
tion. Having  secured  the  cooperaticn  of  his  leadiug  officers, 
he  dispatched  envoys  to  the  Swedi  h  camp,  offering  to  sur- 
render important  fortresses  to  Ox(  istiem,  and  to  join  him 
against  the  emperor.  It  was  an  atrocious  act  of  treason,  and 
so  marvellous  in  its  aspect,  that  Oxenstiern  regarded  it  as 
mere  duplicity  on  the  part  of  Wallenstein,  intended  to  lead 
him  into  a  trap.  He  therefore  dismissed  the  envoy,  rejecting 
the  offer.  His  officers  now  abandoned  him,  and  Gallas,  who 
was  appointed  as  his  successor,  took  command  of  the  army. 

With  a  few  devoted  adherents,  and  one  regiment  of  troops, 
he  took  refuge  in  the  strong  fortress  of  Egra,  hoping  to  main- 
tain himself  there  until  he  could  enter  into  some  arrangement 
with  the  Swedes.  The  officers  around  him,  whom  he  had 
elevated  and  enriched  by  his  iniquitous  bounty,  entered  into  a 
conspiracy  to  purchase  the  favor  of  the  emperor  by  the  as- 
sassination of  their  doomed  general.  It  was  a  very  difficult 
enterprise,  and  one  which  exposed  the  conspirators  to  the 
most  imminent  peril. 

On  the  25th  of  February,  1634,  the  conspuators  gave  a 
magnificent  entertainment  in  the  castle.  They  sat  long  at  the 
table,  wine  flowed  freely,  and  as  the  darkness  of  night  envel- 
oped the  castle,  fourteen  men,  armed  to  the  teeth,  rushed  into 
the  banqueting  hall  from  two  opposite  doors,  and  fell  upon 
the  friends  of  Wallenstein.  Though  thus  taken  by  surprise, 
they  fought  fiercely,  and  killed  several  of  their  assailants  be- 
fore they  were  cut  down.  They  all,  however,  were  soon  dis- 
patched. The  conspirators,  fifty  in  number,  then  ascended 
the  stairs  of  the  castle  to  the  chamber  of  Wallenstein.  They 
cut  down  the  sentinel  at  his  door,  and  broke  into  the  room. 
Wallenstein  had  retired  to  his  bed,  but  alarmed  by  the  clamor, 
he  arose,  and  was  standing  at  the  window  in  his  shirt,  shouting 
from  it  to  the  soldiers  for  assistance. 

"  Are  you,"  exclaimed  one  of  the  conspirators,  "  the  traitoi 


r  E  R  ij  I  N  A  K  B     II.  296 

who  is  going  to  deliver  the  imperial  troops  to  the  enemy,  aod 
tear  the  crown  from  the  head  of  the  emperor  ?** 

Wallenstein  was  perfectly  helpless.  He  looked  around, 
and  deigned  no  reply.  **  Yoa  mast  die,"  coDtinned  the  ooa- 
fipirator,  advancing  with  his  halberd.  Wallenstein,  in  gilenoe, 
opened  his  arms  to  receive  the  blow.  The  sharp  blade  pierced 
his  body,  and  he  fell  dead  npon  the  flocw.  The  alarm  now 
spread  through  the  town.  The  soldiers  seized  their  arms,  and 
flocked  to  avenge  their  general.  But  the  leading  friends  of 
Wallenstein  were  slain ;  and  the  other  oflScers  easily  satisfied  the 
fickle  soldiery  that  their  general  was  a  traitor,  and  with  rather 
a  languid  cry  of  "Long  live  Ferdinand,"  they  returned  to  duty. 

Two  of  the  leading  assassins  hastened  to  Vienna  to  inform 
the  emperor  of  the  deed  they  had  perpetrated.  It  was  wel- 
come intelligence  to  Ferdinand,  and  he  finished  the  work 
they  had  thus  commenced  by  hanging  and  beheading  the  ad- 
herents of  Wallenstein  without  mercy.  The  assassins  wero 
abundantly  rewarded.  The  emperor  still  prosecuted  the  war 
with  perseverance,  which  no  disasters  could  check.  Grad- 
ually the  imperial,  arms  gained  the  ascendency.  Th«  Prot- 
estant princes  became  divided  and  jealous  of  each  other.  The 
emperor  succeeded  in  detaching  from  the  alliance,  and  nego- 
tiating a  separate  peace  with  the  powerful  Electors  of  Saxony 
and  Brandenburg,  He  then  assembled  a  diet  at  Ratisbon  on 
the  15th  of  September,  1639,  and  without  much  difficulty 
Bccured  the  election  of  his  son  Ferdinand  to  succeed  him  on 
tfte  imperial  throne.  The  emperor  presided  at  this  diet  in 
person.  He  was  overjoyed  in  the  attainment  of  this  great  ob- 
ject of  his  ambition.  He  was  now  fifty-nine  years  of  age,  in 
very  feeble  health,  and  qnite  worn  out  by  ft  life  of  incessant 
anxiety  and  toil.  He  returned  to  Vienna,  and  in  four  monthi, 
on  the  15th  of  February,  1687,  breathed  his  last. 

For  eighteen  years  Germany  had  now  been  distracted  by 
war.  The  contending  parties  were  so  exasperated  against 
eeoh  othei ,  that  no  human  wisdom  could,  at  once,  allay  tho 


•90  THE     HOUSB     OF     AUSTRIA. 

stiife.  Tlie  new  king  and  emperor,  Ferdinand  III.,  wianod  for 
peace,  but  he  could  not  obtain  it  on  terms  which  Le  thought 
honorable  to  the  memory  of  his  father.  The  Swedish  army 
was  still  in  Germany,  aided  by  the  Protestant  princes  of  the 
empire,  and  especially  by  the  armies  and  the  treasury  of 
France.  The  thunders  of  battle  were  daily  heard,  and  the 
paths  of  these  hostile  bands  were  ever  marked  by  smoldering 
ruins  and  blood.  Vials  of  woe  were  emptied,  unsurpassed  in 
apocalyptic  vision.  In  the  siege  of  Brisac,  the  wretched  in- 
habitants were  reduced  to  such  a  condition  of  starvation,  that 
a  guard  was  stationed  at  the  burying  ground  to  prevent  them 
from  devouring  the  putrid  carcasses  of  the  dead. 

For  eleven  years  history  gives  us  nothing  but  a  dismai 
record  of  weary  marches,  sieges,  battles,  bombardments,  con- 
flagrations, and  all  the  unimaginable  brutalities  and  miseries 
of  war.  The  war  had  now  raged  for  thirty  years.  Hundreds 
of  thousands  of  lives  had  been  lost.  Millions  of  property  had 
been  destroyed,  and  other  millions  squandered  in  the  arts  of 
destruction.  Nearly  all  Europe  bad  been  drawn  into  this  vor- 
tex of  fury  and  misery.  All  parties  were  now  weary.  And  yet 
seven  years  of  negotiation  had  been  employed  before  they 
could  consent  to  meet  to  consult  upon  a  general  peace.  At 
length  congresses  of  the  belligerent  powers  were  assembled 
in  two  important  towns  of  Westphalia,  Osnabruck  and  Mun- 
ster.  Ridiculous  disputes  upon  etiquette  rendered  this  divis- 
ion of  the  congress  necessary.  The  ministers  of  electors  en- 
ioyed  the  title  oi  excellency.  The  ministers  oi'pi'inees  claimed 
the  same  title.  Months  were  employed  in  settling  that 
question.  Then  a  difficulty  arose  as  to  the  seats  at  table,  who 
were  entitled  to  the  positions  of  honor.  After  long  debate, 
this  point  was  settled  by  having  a  large  round  table  made,  to 
which  there  could  be  no  head  and  no  foot. 

For  four  years  the  great  questions  of  European  policy 
were  discussed  by  this  assembly.  The  all-important  treaty, 
blown  in  history  as  the  peace  of  Westphalia,  and  which  et- 


PEBDTN^AKD     III.  |0| 

^bliflhed  the  general  coadition  of  Europe  for  one  huDdred 
and  fifty  years,  was  signed  on  the  24th  of  October,  1648.  The 
fwntracting  parties  incladed  ail  the  great  and  nearly  all  tbo 
minor  powers  of  Europe.  The  articles  of  this  reno  w^ned  treo^ 
are  vastly  too  volumiuoos  to  be  recorded  here.  'Hie  fyaOf 
of  Frederic  received  back  the  Palatinate  of  which  he  hacl 
oeen  deprived.  The  Protestants  were  restored  to  nearly  aU 
the  rights  which  they  had  enjoyed  under  the  beneficent  rdga 
of  Maximilian  IL  The  princes  of  the  German  empire,  kings, 
dnkes,  electors,  marquises,  princes,  of  whatever  name,  {i^edged 
themselves  not  to  oppress  those  of  their  subjects  who  differed 
from  them  in  religious  faith.  The  pope  protested  against  this 
toleration,  but  his  protest  was  disregarded.  The  German  em- 
pire lost  its  unity,  and  became  a  conglomeration  of  three  hiui- 
dred  independent  sovereignties.  Each  petty  prince  or  dnfce^ 
though  possessing  but  a  few  square  miles  of  territory,  was 
recognized  as  a  sovereign  power,  entitled  to  its  court,  its 
army,  and  its  foreign  alliances.  The  emperor  thus  lost  maoh 
of  that  power  which  he  had  inherited  from  his  ancestors ;  as 
those  princes,  whom  he  had  previously  regarded  as  vassals^ 
now  shared  with  him  sovereign  dignity. 

Ferdinand  TIL,  however,  weai-y  of  the  war  which  for  tio 
many  years  had  allowed  him  not  an  hoar  of  repose,  gladly  aiv 
ceded  to  these  terms  of  peace,  and  in  good  ^th  emfdoyad 
himself  in  carrying  out  the  terms  of  the  treaty.  After  the 
exchange  of  ratifications  another  congress  was  assembled  at 
Nuremburg  to  settle  some  of  the  minute  details,  which  contin- 
•ed  in  session  two  years,  when  at  length,  in  1651,  the  armiei 
jrere  disbanded,  and  Germany  was  released  from  the  presence 
<^  a  foreign  foe. 

Internal  peace  being  thus  secured,  Ferdinand  was  anxiooSi 
before  his  death,  to  secure  the  succession  of  the  imperial  crowB 
to  his  son  who  bore  his  own  name.  He  accordingly  assembled 
a  meeting  of  the  electors  at  Prague,  and  by  the  free  use  of 
tnribes  and  dij^omatic  intrigne,  obt£uned  their  engagement  to 


303  TBE      HOUSE     OF     AU8TBIA. 

support  his  son.  He  accomplished  his  purpose,  and  Ferdinand, 
quite  to  the  astonishment  of  Gei'many,  was  v^hosen  unanimous- 
ly, King  of  the  Romans — the  title  assumed  by  the  emperor 
elect.  In  June,  1653,  the  young  prince  was  crowned  at  Ratis- 
bon.  The  joy  of  his  father,  however,  was  of  short  duration. 
In  one  year  from  that  time  the  small-pox,  in  its  most  loathsome 
form,  seized  the  prince,  and  after  a  few  days  of  anguish  he  died. 
His  father  was  almost  inconsolable  with  grief.  As  soon  as  he 
had  partially  recovered  from  the  blow,  he  brought  forward  his 
second  son,  Leopold,  and  with  but  little  difficulty  secured  for 
him  the  crowns  of  Hungary  and  Bohemia,  but  was  disappointed 
in  his  attempts  to  secure  the  suffrages  of  the  German  electors. 

With  energy,  moderation  and  sagacity,  the  peaceftilly  dis- 
posed Ferdinand  so  administered  the  government  as  to  allay 
for  seven  years  all  the  menaces  of  war  which  were  continually 
arising.  For  so  long  a  period  had  Germany  been  devastated 
by  this  most  direful  of  earthly  calamities,  which  is  indeed  the 
accumulation  of  all  conceivable  woes,  ever  leading  in  its  train 
pestilence  and  famine,  that  peace  seemed  to  the  people  a  heav- 
enly boon.  The  fields  were  again  cultivated,  the  cities  and 
villages  repaired,  and  comfort  began  again  gradually  to  make 
its  appearance  in  homes  long  desolate.  It  is  one  of  the  deep- 
est mysteries  of  the  divine  government  that  the  destinies  of 
millions  should  be  so  entirely  placed  in  the  hands  of  a  single 
man.  Had  Ferdinand  II.  been  an  enlightened,  good  man, 
millions  would  have  been  saved  from  life-long  ruin  and  misery. 

One  pert  young  king,  in  the  search  of  glory,  kindled  again 
the  lurid  flames  of  war  Christina,  Queen  of  Sweden,  daugh- 
ter  of  Gustavus  Adolphus,  influenced  by  romantic  dreams,  ab- 
dicated the  throne  and  retired  to  the  seclusion  of  the  cloister 
Her  cousin,  Charles  Gustavus,  succeeded  her.  He  thought  it 
ft  fine  thing  to  play  the  soldier,  and  to  win  renown  by  consign- 
ing  the  homes  of  thousands  to  blood  and  misery.  He  was  a 
king,  and  the  power  was  in  his  hands.  Merely  to  gratify  this 
fiend-like  ambition,  he  laid  claim  to  the  crown  of  Poland,  and 


FBBDINAND     tli.  30S 

zaised  an  army  for  the  invasion  of  that  kingdom.  A  portion 
of  Poland  was  then  n  a  state  of  insnrrection,  the  Ukraine 
Cossacks  having  risen  against  John  Cassimar,  the  king.  Charles 
Gustavus  thought  that  this  presented  him  an  opportunity  to 
obtain  celebrity  as  a  warrior,  with  but  little  danger  of  failure. 
He  marched  into  the  doomed  country,  leaving  behind  him  a 
wake  of  tire  and  blood.  Cities  and  villages  were  burned ;  tHe 
soil  was  drenched  with  the  blood  of  fathers  and  sons,  his  bngle 
blasts  were  echoed  by  the  agonizing  groans  of  widows  and  oi^ 
phans,  until  at  last,  in  an  awful  battle  of  three  days,  under  the 
walls  of  Warsaw,  the  Polish  army,  struggling  in  self-defensei 
was  cut  to  pieces,  and  Charles  Gustavus  was  crowned  a  c<mi> 
queror.  Elated  by  this  infernal  deed,  the  most  infernal  which 
mortal  man  can  commit,  he  began  to  look  around  to  decide 
in  what  direction  to  extend  his  conquests. 

Ferdinand  HI.,  anxious  as  he  was  to  preserve  peace,  could 
not  but  look  with  alarm  upon  the  movements  which  now 
threatened  the  States  of  the  empire.  It  was  necessary  to  pre» 
sent  a  barrier  to  the  inroads  of  such  a  ruffian.  He  according* 
ly  assembled  a  diet  at  Frankfort  and  demanded  succors  to  (^ 
pose  the  threatened  invasion  on  the  north.  He  raised  an  army, 
entered  into  an  alliance  with  the  defeated  and  prostrate,  yet 
still  struggling  Poles,  and  was  just  commencing  his  mardi, 
when  he  was  seized  with  sudden  illness  and  died,  on  the  Sd  of 
March,  1657.  Ferdinand  was  a  good  man.  He  was  not  r&> 
sponsible  for  the  wars  which  desolated  the  empire  during  the 
first  years  of  his  reign,  for  he  was  doing  every  thing  in  hia 
power  to  bring  those  wars  to  a  close.  His  administration  was 
a  blessing  to  millions.  Just  before  his  death  he  said,  and  with 
truth  which  no  one  will  controvert,  "  During  my  whole  reign 
no  one  can  reproach  me  with  a  single  act  which  I  knew  to  be 
tmjust."  Happy  is  the  monarch  who  can  go  into  the  presence 
of  the  King  of  kings  with  such  a  conscience. 

The  death  of  the  emperor  was  caused  by  a  singular  aoo^ 
dent.    He  was  not  very  well,  and  was  lying  upon  a  couch  m 


M4  THE     HOUSE     OP     AfTSTBIA. 

one  of  the  chambers  of  his  palace.  He  had  an  infant  son,  but 
a  few  weeks  old,  lying  in  a  cradle  in  the  nursery.  A  fire  broke 
out  in  the  apartment  of  the  young  prince.  The  whole  palace 
was  instantly  in  clamor  and  confusion.  Some  attendants  seized 
the  cradle  of  the  young  prince,  and  rushed  with  it  to  the  cham- 
ber of  the  emperor.  In  their  haste  and  terror  they  struck  the 
cradle  with  such  violence  against  the  wall  that  it  was  broken 
to  pieces  and  the  chUd  fell,  screaming,  upon  the  floor.  The  cry 
of  fire,  the  tumult,  the  bursting  into  the  room,  the  dashing  of 
the  cradle  and  the  shrieks  of  the  child,  so  shocked  the  debili- 
tated king  that  he  died  within  an  hour. 

Leopold  was  but  eighteen  years  of  age  when  he  succeeded 
to  the  sovereignty  of  all  the  Austrian  dominions,  including  the 
crowns  of  Hungary  and  Bohemia.  It  was  the  first  great  ob- 
ject of  his  ambition  to  secure  the  imperial  throne  also,  wliich 
his  father  had  failed  to  obtain  for  him.  Louis  XIV.  was  now 
the  youthful  sovereign  of  France.  He,  through  his  ambitious 
and  able  minister,  Mazarin,  did  every  thing  in  his  power  to 
thwart  the  endeavors  of  Ferdinand,  and  to  obtain  the  brilliant 
prize  for  himself.  The  King  of  Sweden  united  with  the  French 
court  in  the  endeavor  to  abase  the  pride  of  the  house  of  Aus- 
tria. But  notwithstanding  all  their  eflforts,  Leopold  carried 
his  point,  and  was  unanimously  elected  emperor,  and  crowned 
on  the  31st  of  July,  1657.  The  princes  of  the  empire,  how- 
ever, greatly  strengthened  in  their  independence  by  the  arti- 
cles of  the  peace  of  Westphalia,  increasingly  jealous  of  their 
rights,  attached  forty-five  conditions  to  their  acceptance  of 
Leopold  as  emperor.  Thus,  notwithstanding  the  imperial  title, 
Leopold  had  as  little  power  over  the  States  of  the  empire  as 
the  President  of  the  United  States  has  over  the  internal  con- 
cerns of  Maine  or  Louisiana.  In  all  such  cases  there  is  ever  a 
eonflict  between  two  parties,  the  one  seeking  the  centralization 
of  power,  and  the  other  advocating  its  dispersion  into  various 
distant  central  points. 

The  flames  of  war  which  Charles  Gustavus  had  kindled 


iBOPOLU     1.  MB 

were  still  blazing.  Leopold  continued  the  aUianoe  which  bis 
fether  had  formed  with  the  Poles,  and  sent  an  army  of  sixt-jen 
thousand  men  into  Poland,  hoping  to  cut  off  the  retreat  of 
Charles  Gustavus,  and  take  him  and  all  his  array  prisoner* 
But  the  Swedish  monarch  was  as  sagacious  and  energetic  as 
he  was  unscrupulous  and  ambitious.  Both  parties  formed  al- 
Iiances.  State  after  State  was  drawn  into  the  conflict.  The 
flame  spread  like  a  conflagration.  Fleets  met  in  deadly  con- 
flict on  the  Baltic,  and  crimsoned  its  waves  with  blood.  The 
thunders  of  war  were  soon  again  echoing  over  all  the  plains 
of  northern  and  western  Germany — and  all  this  because  a 
proud,  unprincipled  young  man,  who  chanced  to  be  a  king, 
wished  to  be  called  a  hero. 

He  accomplished  his  object.  Through  burning  homes  and 
bleeding  hearts  and  crushed  hopes  he  marched  to  his  renown. 
The  forces  of  the  empire  were  allied  with  Denmark  and  Po- 
land against  him.  With  skill  and  energy  which  can  hardly 
find  a  parallel  in  the  tales  of  romance,  he  baffled  all  the  com- 
binations of  his  foes.  Energy  is  a  noble  quality,  and  we  may 
admire  its  exhibition  even  though  we  detest  the  cause  which 
has  called  it  forth.  The  Swedish  fleet  had  been  sunk  by  the 
Danes,  and  Charles  Gustavus  was  driven  from  the  waters  of 
the  Baltic.  With  a  few  transports  he  secretly  conveyed  an 
army  across  the  Cattegat  to  the  northern  coast  of  Jutland, 
marched  rapidly  down  those  inhospitable  shores  until  he  came 
to  the  narrow  strait,  called  the  Little  Belt,  which  separates 
Jutland  from  the  large  island  of  Fyen.  He  crossed  this  strait 
on  the  ice,  dispersed  a  corps  of  Danes  posted  to  arrest  him, 
traversed  the  island,  exposed  to  all  the  storms  of  mid-winter, 
some  sixty  miles  to  its  eastern  shore.  A  series  of  islands,  with 
intervening  straits  clogged  with  ice,  bridged  by  a  long  ana 
drcuitous  way  his  passage  across  the  Great  Belt.  A  march 
often  miles  across  the  hummocks,  rising  and  falling  with  the 
tides,  landed  him  upon  the  almost  pathless  snows  of  Lange- 
fatnd.     Crossing  that  dreary  waste  diagonally  some  dozen  miles 


306  TEB     BOUSE    OP     AU8TBIA. 

to  another  arm  of  the  8ea  ten  miles  wide,  which  the  ices  of  ■ 
winter  of  almost  unprecedented  de verity  had  also  bridged, 
pushing  boldly  on,  with  a  recklessness  which  nothing  but  sao» 
cess  redeems  from  stupendous  infatuation,  he  crossed  this  fhu 
gile  surface,  which  any  storm  might  crumble  beneath  his  feet, 
and  landed  upon  the  western  coast  of  Laaland.  A  march  of 
thirty-five  miles  over  a  treeless,  shelterless  and  almost  unin- 
habited expanse,  brought  him  to  the  eastern  shore.  Easily 
crossing  a  narrow  strait  about  a  mile  in  width,  he  plunged  into 
the  forests  of  tlie  island  of  Falster.  A  dreary  march  of  twenty* 
seven  miles  conducted  him  to  the  last  remauiing  arm  of  the 
sea  which  separated  him  from  Zealand.  This  strait,  from 
twelve  to  fifteen  miles  in  breadth,  was  also  closed  by  ice. 
Chailes  Gustavus  led  his  hardy  soldiers  across  it,  and  then, 
with  accelerated  steps,  pressed  on  some  sixty  miles  to  Copen- 
hagen, the  capital  of  Denmark.  In  sixteen  days  after  landing 
in  Jutland,  his  troops  were  encamped  in  Zealand  before  the 
gates  of  the  capital. 

The  King  of  Denmark  was  appalled  at  such  a  sudden  ap- 
parition. His  allies  were  too  remote  to  render  him  any  as- 
sistance. Never  dreaming  of  such  an  attack,  his  capital  wa» 
quite  defenseless  m  that  quarter.  Overwhelmed  with  terror 
and  despondency,  he  was  compelled  to  submit  to  such  term* 
as  the  conqueror  might  dictate.  The  conqueror  was  inexor- 
able in  his  demands.  Sweden  was  aggrandized,  and  Denmark 
humiliated. 

Leopold  was  gi-eatly  chagrined  by  this  sudden  prostration 
of  his  faithful  ally.  In  the  midst  of  these  scenes  of  ambition 
and  of  conquest,  the  **  king  of  terrors'*  came  with  his  summons 
to  Charles  Gustavus.  The  passage  of  this  blood-stained  war- 
rior to  the  world  of  spirits  reminds  us  of  the  sublime  vision 
of  Isaiah  when  the  King  of  Babylon  sank  into  the  grave: 

"  Hell  from  beneath  is  moved  for  thee,  to  meet  thee  at  thy 
coming ;  it  stirreth  up  the  dead  for  thee,  even  all  the  chief 
ones  of  th«  earth ;  U   hath  raised  up  from  their  thrones  aH 


LEOPOLD     I.  807 

the  kings  of  the  nations.  All  they  shall  speak  and  say  unto 
thee, 

"  *  Art  thou  also  become  weak  as  we  ?  Art  thou  become 
hke  unto  us?  Thy  pomp  is  brought  down  to  the  grave,  and 
*he  noise  of  thy  viols ;  the  worm  is  spread  under  thee,  and  the 
worms  cover  thee.  How  art  thou  fallen  from  heaven,  O  Lu- 
cifer, son  of  the  morning!  How  art  thou  cut  down  to  thj 
ground  which  didst  weaken  the  nations !' 

"  They  that  see  thee  shall  narrowly  look  upon  thee  and 
conside  thee,  saying,  '  Is  this  the  man  that  made  the  earth  to 
tremble,  and  didst  shake  kingdoms ;  that  made  the  world  aa 
a  wilderness  and  destroyed  the  cities  thereof  that  opened  not 
the  house  of  his  piisoners  ?'  " 

The  death  of  Charles  Gustavus  was  the  signal  for  the  strife 
of  war  to  cease,  and  the  belligerent  nations  soon  came  to  terms 
of  accommodation.  But  scarcely  was  peace  proclaimed  ere 
new  troubles  arose  in  Hungary.  The  barbarian  Turks,  with 
their  head-quarters  at  Constantinople,  lived  in  a  state  of  con- 
tinual anarchy.  The  cimeter  was  their  only  law.  The  palace 
of  the  sultan  was  the  scene  of  incessant  assassinations.  N'oth- 
ing  ever  prevented  them  from  assailing  their  neighbors  but 
incessant  quarrels  among  themselves.  The  life  of  the  Turkish 
empire  was  composed  of  bloody  insurrections  at  home,  and 
Btill  more  bloody  wars  abroad.  Mahomet  FV".  was  now  sultan. 
He  was  but  twentiy  years  of  age.  A  quarrel  for  ascendency 
among  the  beauties  of  his  harem  had  involved  the  empire  in 
a  civil  war.  The  sultan,  after  a  long  conflict,  crushed  the  in- 
eurrection  with  a  blood-red  hand.  Having  restored  internal 
tranquillity,  he  prepared  as  usual  for  foreign  war.  By  intrigue 
and  the  force  of  arms  they  took  poosession  of  most  of  the 
fortresses  of  Transylvania,  and  crossing  the  frontier,  entere'' 
Hungary,  and  laid  siege  to  Great  Wardein. 

Leopold  immediately  dispatched  ten  thousand  men  to  suo- 
cor  the  besieged  town  and  to  garrison  other  important  for- 
tresses.    His  succors  arrived  too  late.     Great  Wardein  feD 


906  THi!   norsE  OF  avstbia* 

itit.0  the  bands  of  the  Turks,  and  they  commenced  tiieir 
^ess  ravages.  Hungary  was  m  a  wretched  condition.  Hm 
idog,  residing  in  Vienna,  was  merely  a  nominal  sovereigB. 
CSiosen  by  nobles  proud  of  their  independence,  and  jealow 
of  each  other  and  of  their  feudal  rights,  they  were  nnwillisg 
to  delegate  to  the  sovereign  any  efficient  power.  They  wonW 
«rown  him  with  great  splendor  of  gold  and  jewelry,  and 
OTowd  his  court  in  their  magnificent  display,  but  they  wonld 
not  grant  him  the  prerogative  to  make  war  or  peace,  to  levy 
taxes,  or  to  exercise  any  other  of  the  peculiar  attributes  of 
sovereignty.  The  king,  with  all  his -sounding  titles  and  gar* 
geous  parade,  was  in  reality  but  the  chairman  of  a  committee 
of  nobles.    The  real  power  was  with  the  Hungarian  diet. 

This  diet,  or  congress,  was  a  peculiar  body,  Ori^ally  it 
consisted  of  the  whole  body  of  nobles,  who  assembled  anna* 
ally  on  horseback  on  the  vast  plain  of  Rakoz,  near  BudSk 
Eighty  thousand  nobles,  many  of  them  with  powerful  revenues^ 
were  frequently  convened  at  these  tumultuous  gathering!. 
The  people  were  thought  to  have  no  rights  which  a  noble  WM 
bound  to  respect.  They  lived  in  hovels,  hardly  superior  to 
those  which  a  humane  farmer  now  prepares  for  his  swine. 
The  only  function  they  ftdfilled  was,  by  a  life  of  exhausting  toil 
and  suflfering,  to  raise  the  funds  which  the  nobles  expended  in 
their  wars  and  their  pleasure;  and  to  march  to  the  field  of  blood 
when  smnmoned  by  the  bugle.  In  fact  history  has  hardly 
condescended  to  allude  to  the  people.  We  have  minutely  ds 
tailed  the  intrigues  and  the  conflicts  of  kings  and  nobles,  when 
generation  after  generation  of  the  masses  of  the  people  have 
passed  away,  as  little  thought  of  as  billows  upon  the  beach. 

These  immense  gatherings  of  the  nobles  were  found  to  be 
rfo  imwieldy,  and  so  inconvenient  for  the  transaction  of  any 
efficient  business,  that  Sigismond,  at  the  commencement  of  the 
fifteenth  century,  introduced  a  limited  kind  of  representation 
The  bishops,  who  stood  first  in  wealth,  power  and  rank,  and 
the  highest  dukes   attended  in  person.    The  nobles  of  toai 


LEOPOLD     I.  f  00 

dialled  rank  sent  their  delegates,  and  the  assembly,  much 
diminished  in  number,  was  transferred  from  the  open  plain  to 
the  city  of  Presburg,  The  diet,  at  the  time  of  which  we  write, 
was  assembled  once  in  three  years,  and  at  such  other  times  aa 
the  sovereign  thought  it  necessary  to  convene  it.  The  diet 
controlled  the  king,  unless  he  chanced  to  be  a  man  of  such 
commanding  character,  that  by  moral  power  he  could  bring 
the  diet  to  his  feet.  A  clause  had  been  inserted  in  the  coro- 
nation oath,  that  the  nobles,  without  guilt,  could  oppose  the 
authority  of  the  king,  whenever  he  transgressed  their  privi- 
leges ;  it  was  also  declared  that  no  foreign  troops  could  be 
introduced  into  the  kingdom  without  the  consent  of  the 
diet. 

Under  such  a  government,  it  was  inevitable  that  the  king 
should  be  involved  in  a  continued  conflict  with  the  nobles. 
The  nobles  wished  for  aid  to  repel  the  Turks ;  and  yet  they 
were  unwilling  that  an  Austrian  army  should  be  introduced 
into  Hungary,  lest  it  should  enable  the  king  to  enlarge  those 
prerogatives  which  he  was  ever  seeking  to  extend,  and  which 
they  were  ever  endeavoring  to  curtail. 

Leopold  convened  the  diet  at  Presburg.  They  had  a 
Btormy  session.  Leopold  had  commenced  some  persecution 
of  the  Protestants  in  the  States  of  Austria.  This  excited  the 
alarm  of  the  Protestant  nobles  of  Hungary ;  and  they  had 
reason  to  dread  the  intolerance  of  the  Roman  Catholics,  more 
than  the  cimeter  of  the  Turk.  They  openly  accused  Leopold 
of  commencing  persecution,  and  declared  that  it  was  his  in- 
tention to  reduce  Hungary  to  the  state  to  which  Ferdinand  IL 
had  reduced  Bohemia.  They  met  all  the  suggestions  of 
Leopold,  for  decisive  action,  with  so  many  provisos  and  pre- 
cautions, that  nothing  could  be  done.  It  is  dangeroua  to  sur- 
render one's  arms  to  a  highway  robber,  or  one  whom  we  fear 
may  prove  such,  even  if  he  does  promise  with  them  to  aid  in 
repelling  a  foe.  The  Catholics  and  the  Protestants  became 
mvolved  in  altercation,  and  the  diet  was  abruptly  dissolved. 


SIO  XHB     HOUSE    OF    AUSTRIA. 

The  Turks  eagerly  watched  their  movements,  and,  ear 
oouraged  by  these  dissensions,  soon  burst  into  Hungary  with 
an  army  of  one  hundred  thousand  men.  They  crossed  the 
Drave  at  Bsseg,  and,  ascending  the  valley  of  the  Danube, 
directly  north  one  hundred  and  fifty  mileet,  crossed  that  stream 
unopposed  at  Buda.  Still  ascending  the  stream,  which  here 
flows  from  the  west,  they  spread  devastation  everywhere 
around  them,  until  they  arrived  nearly  within  sight  of  the 
steeples  of  Vienna.  The  capital  was  in  oonsternation.  To 
add  to  their  terror  and  their  peril,  the  emperor  was  danger- 
ously sick  of  the  small-pox,  a  disease  which  had  so  often 
proved  fatal  to  members  of  the  royal  family.  One  of  the  im- 
perial generals,  near  Presburg,  in  a  strong  position,  held  the 
mvading  army  in  check  a  few  days.  The  ministry,  in  their 
consternation,  appealed  to  all  the  powers  of  Christendom  to 
hasten  to  the  rescue  of  the  cross,  now  so  seriously  imperiled 
by  the  crescent.  Forces  flowed  in,  which  for  a  time  arrested 
(he  further  advance  of  the  Moslem  banners,  and  afforded 
to  prepare  for  more  efficient  action. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

LEOPOLD  I. 

Pbom  1662  TO  1697. 

ivvinoir  or  m*  Tubkb.— A  Tbkatt  oonoludrd.— PossEssioro  or  Lrovoia— tsTA»^ 

Blow    OP    THE    FbENOH. — LbaGHB    OP    AUGSBURO. — DEVASTATION    OP    THB  PAl.An< 

NATE. — Invasion  of  Hunoabt. — Embbio  Tekeli. — Union  op  Emebio  Tekbu 
wrrn  thk  Tubes. — ^Leopold  applies  to  Sobieski. — He  ihmediately  uabobbsio 
HIS  An). — Toe  Turks  coNgtrEBED.— Sobieski's  triumphal  Eeceptions.— Meak- 
R  CBS  OF  Leopold. — Betknob  irpon  HtmeABT.— Pkaob  oonolitdbd. — Oontrst  fob 
Spain. 

WHILE  Europe  was  rousing  itself  to  repel  this  invasion  of 
the  Turks,  the  grand  vizier,  leaving  garrisons  in  the 
strong  fortresses  of  the  Danube,  withdrew  the  remainder  of 
his  army  to  prepare  for  a  still  more  formidable  invasion  tho 
ensuing  year.  Most  of  the  European  powers  seemed  disposed 
to  render  the  emperor  some  aid.  The  pope  transmitted  to 
him  about  two  hundred  thousand  dollars.  France  sent  a  de- 
tachment of  six  thousand  men.  Spain,  Venice,  Genoa,  Tus- 
cany and  Mantua,  forwarded  important  contnbutions  of  money 
and  military  stores.  Early  in  the  summer  the  Turks,  in  a  pow- 
erful and  well  provided  army,  commenced  their  march  anew. 
Ascending  the  valley  of  the  Save,  where  they  encountered  no 
opposition,  they  traversed  Styria,  that  they  might  penetrate 
to  the  seat  of  war  through  a  defenseless  frontier.  The  troops 
assembled  by  Leopold,  sixty  thousand  in  number,  andw  the 
renowned  Prince  Montecuculi,  stationed  themselves  in  a  very 
strong  position  at  St,  Gothard,  behind  the  river  Raab,  which 
flows  into  the  Danube  about  one  hundred  miles  below  Vienna. 
Here  ti  ey  threw  up  their  intrenchments  and  prepared  to  fo 
snst  the  iMX)gress  of  the  invader. 


812  THB     HOUSE     OF     AUSTKIA. 

The  Turks  soon  arrived  and  spread  themselves  out  in  milik 
tary  array  upon  the  opposite  side  of  the  narrow  but  rapid 
stream.  As  the  hostile  armies  were  preparing  for  an  engage- 
ment, a  young  Turk,  magnificently  mounted,  and  in  gorgeous 
uniform,  having  crossed  the  stream  with  a  party  of  cavalry, 
rode  in  advance  of  the  troop,  upon  the  p^ain,  and  in  the  spirit 
of  ancient  chivalry  challenged  any  Christian  knight  to  meet 
him  in  single  combat.  The  Chevalier  of  Lorraine  accepted 
the  challenge,  and  rode  forth  to  the  encounter.  Both  armies 
looked  silently  on  to  witness  the  issue  of  the  duel.  It  was  of 
but  a  few  moments'  duration.  Lorraine,  warding  off  every 
blow  of  his  antagonist,  soon  passed  his  sword  through  the 
body  of  the  Turk,  and  he  fell  dead  from  his  horse.  The  victor 
returned  to  the  Christian  camp,  leading  in  triumph  the  splendid 
steed  of  his  antagonist. 

And  now  the  signal  was  given  for  the  general  battle.  The 
Turks  impetuously  crossing  the  narrow  stream,  assailed  the 
Christian  camp  in  all  directions,  with  their  chaiacteristic  physi- 
cal bravery,  the  most  common,  cheap  and  vulgar  of  al'  earth- 
ly virtues.  A  few  months  of  military  discipline  will  make 
fearless  soldiers  of  the  most  ignominious  wretches  who  can  be 
raked  from  the  gutters  of  Christian  or  heathen  lands.  The 
battle  was  waged  with  intense  fierceness  on  both  sides,  and 
was  long  continued  with  varying  success.  At  last  the  Turks 
were  routed  on  every  portion  of  the  field,  and  leaving  nearly 
twenty  thousand  of  their  number  either  dead  upon  the  plain 
or  drowned  in  the  Raab,  they  commenced  a  precipitate  flight. 

Leopold  was,  for  many  reasons,  very  anxious  for  peace,  and 
ilnraediately  proposed  terms  very  favorable  to  the  Turks.  The 
sultan  was  so  disheartened  by  this  signal  reverse  that  he  readily 
listened  to  the  propositions  of  the  emperor,  and  within  nine 
days  after  the  battle  of  St.  Gothard,  to  the  astonishment  of  all 
Europe,  a  truce  was  concluded  for  twenty  years.  The  Hunga- 
rians were  much  displeased  with  the  terms  of  this  treaty  ;  for 
in  the  first  place,  it  was  contrary  to  the  laws  of  the  kinardom 


LEOPOLB     i  81t 

ftir  the  king  to  make  peace  withont  the  consent  of  the  diet, 
and  in  the  second  place,  the  conditions  he  offered  the  Tnrkv 
were  humiliating  to  the  Hungarians.  Leopold  eonfinn*d  to 
the  Turks  their  ascendenoj  in  Transylvania,  and  allowed  thettt 
to  retain  Great  Wardein,  and  two  other  important  fortresse* 
in  Hungary.  It  was  with  no  little  diflScnlty  that  the  emperor 
persuaded  the  diet  to  ratify  these  terms. 

Leopold  is  *o  be  considered  under  the  twofold  light  of  sov 
ereign  of  Austria  and  Emperor  of  Germany.  We  have  seen 
that  his  power  as  emperor  was  quite  limited.  His  power  at 
sovereign  of  Austria,  also  varied  greatly  in  the  different  Statec 
of  hfe  widely  extended  realms.  In  the  Austrian  duchies  prop- 
er,  npon  the  Danube,  of  which  he  was,  by  long  hereditary  de- 
scent, archduke,  his  sway  was  almost  omnipotent.  In  Bohe- 
mia he  was  powei-ful,  though  much  less  so  than  in  Austria,  and 
it  was  necessary  for  him  to  move  with  caution  there,  and  not 
to  disturb  the  ancient  usages  of  the  realm  lest  he  should  excite 
insurrection.  In  Hungary,  where  the  laws  and  customs  were 
entirely  different,  Leopold  held  merely  a  nominal,  hardly  a 
tecognized  sway.  The  bold  Hungarian  barons,  always  steeK" 
dad  and  mounted  for  war,  in  their  tumultuous  diets,  governed 
(he  kingdom.  There  were  other  remote  duchies  and  princi- 
palities, too  feeble  to  stand  by  themselves,  and  ever  ohangmg 
masters,  as  they  were  conquered  or  sought  the  protection  of 
other  powers,  which,  under  the  reign  of  Leopold,  were  por- 
tioiiB  of  wide  extended  Austria.  Another  large  and  vastly 
important  accession  was  now  made  to  his  realms.  The  Tyrol, 
which,  in  its  natur^  features,  may  be  considered  but  an  exten- 
sion of  Switzerland,  is  a  territory  of  about  one  hundred  milea 
tqnare,  traversed  through  its  whole  extent  by  the  Alps,  Ly- 
ing just  sonth  of  Austria  it  is  the  key  to  Italy,  opening  through 
its  defiles  a  passage  to  the  sunny  plains  of  the  Peninsula ;  and 
through  those  fastnesses,  guarded  by  frowning  castles,  no  foe 
oould  force  his  way,  into  the  valleys  of  the  Tyrol.  The  most 
0Qblime  road  in  Burope  is  that  over  Mount  Brenner,  along  thi» 


81-i  THE     HOUSB     OF     AUSTRIA 

banks  of  the  Adige.    This  province  had  long  been  in  the  hands 
of  members  of  the  Austrian  family 

On  the  15th  of  June,  1665,  Si^smond  Francis,  Duke  of 
Tyrol,  and  cousin  of  Leopold,  died,  leaving  no  issue,  and  the 
province  escheated  with  its  million  of  inhabitants  to  Leopold, 
as  the  next  heir.  This  brought  a  large  accession  of  revenue 
and  of  military  force,  to  the  kingdom.  Austria  was  now  the 
leading  power  in  Europe,  and  Leopold,  in  rank  and  position, 
the  most  illustrious  sovei-eign.  Louis  XIV.  had  recently  mar- 
ried Maria  Theresa,  eldest  daughter  of  Philip  IV.,  King  of 
Spain.  Philip,  who  was  anxious  to  retain  the  crown  of  Spain 
in  his  own  family,  extorted  from  Maria  Theresa,  and  from  her 
husband,  Louis  XIV.,  the  renunciation  of  all  right  of  succes- 
sion, in  favor  of  his  second  daughter,  Margaret,  whom  he  be- 
trothed to  Leopold.  Philip  died  in  September,  1665,  leaving 
these  two  daughters,  one  of  whom  was  married  to  the  King  of 
France,  and  leaving  also  an  infant  son,  who  succeeded  to  the 
throne  under  the  regency  of  his  mother,  Ann,  daughter  of  Fer- 
dinand m.,  of  Austria.  Margaret  was  then  too  young  to  be 
married,  but  in  a  year  from  this  time,  in  September,  1666,  her 
nuptials  were  celebrated  with  great  splendor  at  Madrid.  The 
ambitious  French  monarch,  taking  advantage  of  the  minority 
of  the  King  of  Spain,  and  of  the  feeble  regency,  and  in  defi- 
ance of  the  solemn  renunciation  made  at  his  marriage,  resolved 
to  annex  the  Spanish  provinces  of  the  Low  Countries  to  France, 
and  invaded  the  kingdom,  leading  himself  an  army  of  thirty 
tnousand  men.  The  Spanish  court  immediately  appealed  to 
Leopold  for  assistance.  But  Leopold  was  so  embarrassed  by 
troubles  in  Hungary,  and  by  discontents  in  the  empire  that  he 
could  render  no  efficient  aid.  England,  however,  and  other 
powers  of  Europe,  jealous  of  the  aggrandizement  of  Louis 
XIV.  combined,  and  compelled  him  to  abandon  a  large  por- 
tion of  the  Netherlands,  though  he  still  retained  several  for 
tresses.  The  ambition  of  Louis  XIV.  was  inflamed,  not  ch«cked 
by  this  reverse,  and  all  Europe  was  involved  again  in  bloody 


LEOPOLD      X.  315 

ware.  The  aggressions  of  France,  and  the  devastations  of 
Turenne  in  the  Palatinate,  roused  Germany  to  listen  to  the 
appeals  of  Leopold,  and  the  empire  declared  war  against 
France.  Months  of  desolating  war  rolled  on,  decisive  of  no 
results,  except  ^iniversal  misery.  The  fierce  conflict  continued 
with  unintermitted  fury  until  16V9,  when  the  haughty  mon- 
arch of  France,  who  was  as  sagacious  in  diplomacy  as  he  was 
able  in  warj  by  bribes  and  threats  succeeded  in  detaching  one 
after  another  from  the  coalition  against  him,  until  Leopold,  de- 
serted by  nearly  all  his  allies,  was  also  compelled  to  accede  to 
peace. 

France,  under  Louis  XIV.,  was  now  the  dominant  power 
In  Europe.  Every  court  seemed  to  be  agitated  by  the  in- 
trigues of  this  haughty  sovereign,  and  one  becomes  weary  of 
describing  the  incessant  fluctuations  of  the  warfare.  The  ar- 
rogance  of  Louis,  his  unblushing  perfidy  and  his  insulting  as- 
sumptions of  superiority  over  all  other  powers,  exasperated 
the  emperor  to  the  highest  pitch.  But  the  French  monarch, 
by  secret  missions  and  abounding  biibes,  kept  Hungary  in 
continued  commotion,  and  excited  such  jealousy  in  the  differ- 
ent States  of  the  empire,  that  Leopold  was  compelled  to  sub- 
mit in  silent  indignation  to  wi'ongs  almost  too  grievous  for 
human  nature  to  bear. 

At  length  Leopold  succeeded  in  organizing  another  coali- 
tion to  resist  the  aggressions  of  Louis  XIV.  The  Prince  of 
Orange,  the  King  of  Sweden  and  the  Electoi-  of  Brandenburg 
were  the  principal  parties  united  with  the  emperor  in  thif  ~n- 
federacy,  which  was  concluded,  under  the  name  of  the  "  League 
of  Augsburg,"  on  the  2l8t  of  June,  1686.  An  army  of  sixty 
thousand  men  was  immediately  raised.  From  all  parts  of 
Germany  troops  were  now  hurrying  towards  the  Rhine.  Louis, 
alarmed,  retired  from  the  Palatinate,  which  he  had  overrun, 
and,  to  place  a  barrier  between  himself  and  his  foes,  ordered 
the  utter  devastation  of  the  unhappy  country.  The  diabolical 
order  was  executed  by  Turenne.    The  whole  of  the  Palatinat« 


816  THE     HOUSE     OF     AUSTRIA. 

was  surrendered  to  pillage  and  conflagration.  The  elector 
from  the  towers  of  his  castle  at  Mannheim,  saw  at  one  time 
two  cities  and  twenty-five  villages  in  flames.  He  had  no  force 
sufficient  to  warrant  him  to  leave  the  walls  of  his  fortress  to 
oj:)pose  the  foe.  He  was,  however,  so  moved  to  despair  by  the 
sight,  that  he  sent  a  challenge  to  Turenne  to  meet  him  in  sin- 
gle combat.  Turenne,  by  command  of  the  king,  declined  ac- 
cepting the  challenge.  More  than  forty  large  towns,  besides 
innumerable  villages,  were  given  up  to  the  flames.  It  was 
mid-winter.  The  fields  were  covered  with  snow,  and  swept 
by  freezing  blasts.  The  wretched  inhabitants,  parents  and 
children,  driven  into  the  bleak  plains  without  food  or  clothing 
or  shelter,  perished  miserably  by  thousands.  The  devastation 
of  the  Palatinate  is  one  of  the  most  cruel  deeds  which  war  has 
ever  perpetrated.  For  these  woes,  which  no  imagination  can 
guage,  Louis  XIV.  is  responsible.  He  has  escaped  any  ade- 
quate earthly  penalty  for  the  crime,  but  the  instinctive  sense 
of  justice  implanted  in  every  breast,  demands  that  he  should 
not  escape  the  retributions  of  a  righteous  God.  "  After  death 
Cometh  the  judgment." 

This  horrible  deed  roused  Germany.  All  Europe  now 
combined  against  France,  except  Portugal,  Russia  and  a  few 
of  the  Italian  States.  The  tide  now  turned  in  favor  of  the 
house  of  Austria.  Germany  was  so  alarmed  by  the  arrogance 
of  France,  that,  to  strengthen  the  power  of  the  emperor,  the 
diet  with  almost  perfect  unanimity  elected  his  son  Joseph, 
chough  a  lad  but  eleven  years  of  age,  to  succeed  to  the  imperial 
throne.  Indeed,  Leopold  presented  his  son  in  a  manner  which 
seemed  to  claim  the  crown  for  him  as  his  hereditary  right,  and 
the  diet  did  not  resist  that  claim.  France,  rich  and  powerful, 
with  marvelous  energy  breasted  her  host  of  foes.  All  Europe 
was  in  a  blaze.  The  war  raged  on  the  ocean,  over  the  marshea 
of  Holland,  along  the  banks  of  the  Rhine,  upon  the  plains  of 
Italy,  through  the  defiles  of  the  Alps  and  far  away  on  the 
steppes  of  Hungary  and  the  shores  of  the  Euxioe.    To  all  these 


LEOPOLD     I.  81^ 

points  tlie  erapeior  was  compelled  to  send  his  troops.  Year 
after  year  of  carnage  and  woe  rolled  on,  during  which  hardl; 
a  happy  family  could  be  found  in  all  Europe. 

"  Man's  inhumanity  to  man 
Made  countless  millions  mourn." 

At  last  all  parties  became  weary  of  the  war,  and  none  of  the 
powers  having  gained  any  thing  of  any  importance  by  these 
long  years  of  crime  and  misery,  for  which  Louis  XIV.,  as  the 
aggressor,  is  mainly  responsible,  peace  was  signed  on  the  30tb 
of  October,  1697.  One  important  thing,  indeed,  had  been  ac- 
complished. The  rapacious  Louis  XIV.  had  been  checked  in 
his  career  of  spoliation.  But  his  insatiate  ambition  was  by  no 
means  subdued.  He  desired  peace  only  that  he  might  more 
successfully  prosecute  his  plans  of  aggrandizement.  He  soon, 
by  his  system  of  robbery,  involved  Europe  again  in  war.  Per- 
haps no  man  has  ever  lived  who  has  caused  more  bloody 
deaths  and  more  wide-spread  destruction  of  human  happiness 
than  Louis  XIV.  We  wonder  not  that  in  the  French  Revolu- 
tion an  exasperated  people  should  have  rifled  his  sepulcher 
and  spurned  his  skull  over  the  pavements  as  %  foot-ball. 

Leopold,  during  the  progress  of  these  wars,  by  the  aid  of 
the  armies  which  the  empire  furnished  him,  recovered  all  of 
Hungary  and  Transylvania,  driving  the  Turks  beyond  the 
Danube.  But  the  proud  Hungarian  nobles  were  about  as  much 
opposed  to  the  rule  of  the  Austrian  king  as  to  that  of  the 
Turkish  sultan.  The  Protestants  gained  but  Uttle  by  the 
change,  for  the  Mohammedan  was  about  as  tolerant  as  the  pa- 
pist. They  all  suspected  Leopold  of  the  design  of  estabhsh 
ing  over  them  despotic  power,  and  they  formed  a  secret  con- 
federacy for  their  own  protection.  Leopold,  released  from  his 
warfare  against  France  and  the  Turks,  was  now  anxious  to 
consolidate  his  power  in  Hungary,  and  justly  regarding  the 
Roman  Catholic  religion  as  the  great  bulwark  against  liberty 
encouraged  the  Catholics  to  persecute  the  Protestants. 


£18  THE     HOUSE     OP     AUSTRIA. 

Leopold  took  advantage  of  this  conspiracy  to  maroli  ah 
army  into  Hungary,  and  attacking  the  discontented  nobles, 
who  had  raised  an  army,  he  crushed  them  with  terrible  se- 
verity. No  mercy  was  shown.  He  exhausted  the  energies  of 
confiscation,  exile  and  the  scaffold  upon  his  foes ;  and  then, 
having  intimidated  all  so  that  no  one  dared  to  murmur,  de- 
clared the  monarchy  of  Hungary  no  longer  elective  but  hered- 
itary, like  that  of  Bohemia.  He  even  had  the  assurance  to 
summon  a  diet  of  the  nobles  to  confirm  this  decree  which  de- 
frauded  them  of  their  time-honored  rights.  The  nobles  who 
were  summoned,  terrified,  instead  of  obeying,  fled  into  Tran- 
sylvania, The  despot  then  issued  an  insulting  and  menacing 
proclamation,  declaring  that  the  power  he  exercised  he  re- 
ceived from  God,  and  calling  upon  all  to  manifest  implicit 
Bubmissiou  under  peril  of  his  vengeance.  He  then  extorted  a 
large  contribution  of  money  from  the  kingdom,  and  quaitered 
upon  the  inhabitants  thirty  thousand  troops  to  awe  them  into 
subjection. 

This  proclamation  was  immediately  followed  by  another, 
changing  the  whole  form  of  government  of  the  kingdom,  and 
establishing  an  unlimited  despotism.  He  then  moved  vigor- 
ously for  the  extirpation  of  the  Protestant  religion.  The 
Protestant  pastors  were  silenced ;  courts  were  instituted  for 
the  suppression  of  heresy ;  two  hundred  and  fifty  Protestant 
ministers  were  sentenced  to  be  burned  at  the  stake,  and  then, 
as  an  act  of  extraordinary  clemency,  on  the  part  of  the  des- 
pot, their  pun  hiuent  was  commuted  to  hard  labor  in  the 
galleys  for  life.  All  the  nameless  horrors  of  inquisitorial 
cruelty  desolated  the  land. 

Catholics  and  Protestants  were  ahke  driven  to  despair  by 
these  civil  and  religious  outrages.  They  combined,  and  wete 
aided  both  by  France  and  Turkey ;  not  that  France  and  Tor* 
key  loved  justice  and  humanity,  but  they  hated  the  house  Gi 
Austria,  and  wished  to  weaken  its  power,  that  they  might 
•nrich  themselves  by  the  spoils.     A  noble  chief,  Emeric  Te- 


LEOPOLD     I.  M0 

keh,  who  had  fled  from  Hungary  to  Poland,  and  who  haiad 
Austria  as  Hannibal  hated  Rome,  was  in  zested  with  the  com- 
mand of  the  Hungarian  patriots.  Victory  followed  his  stand- 
ard, until  the  emperor,  threatened  with  entire  expulsion  from 
the  kingdom,  offered  to  reestablish  the  ancient  laws  which  he 
had  abrogated,  and  to  restore  to  the  Hungarians  all  those 
civil  and  religious  privileges  of  which  he  had  so  ruthlessly 
defrauded  them. 

But  the  Hungarians  were  no  longer  to  be  deceived  by  hia 
perfidious  promises.  They  continued  the  war  ;  and  the  sultan 
sent  an  army  of  two  hundred  tho-isand  men  to  cooperate  with 
Tekeli.  The  emperor,  unable  to  meet  so  formidable  an  army, 
abandoned  his  garrisons,  and,  retiiing  from  the  distant  parts 
of  the  kingdom,  concentrated  his  troops  at  Presburg.  But 
with  all  his  efforts,  he  was  able  to  raise  an  army  of  only  forty 
thousand  men.  The  Duke  of  Lorraine,  who  was  intrusted 
with  the  command  of  the  imperial  troops,  was  compelled  to 
retreat  precipitately  before  outnumbering  foes,  and  he  fled 
upon  the  Danube,  pursued  by  the  combined  Hungarians  and 
Turks,  until  he  found  refuge  within  the  walls  of  Vienna.  The 
city  was  quite  unprepared  for  i-esistauce,  its  forti6cations  being 
dilapidated,  and  its  garrison  feeble.  Universal  consternation 
seized  the  inhabitants.  All  along  the  valley  of  the  Danube 
the  population  fled  in  terror  before  the  advance  of  the  Turks. 
Leopold,  with  his  family,  at  midnight,  departed  ingloriously 
from  the  city,  to  seek  a  distant  refuge.  The  citizens  followed 
the  example  of  their  sovereign,  and  all  the  roads  leading  west- 
ward and  northward  from  the  city  were  crowded  with  fugi- 
lives,  in  carriages,  on  horseback  and  on  foot,  and  with  alJ 
kinds  of  vehicles  laden  with  the  treasures  of  the  metropolis. 
The  churches  were  filled  with  the  sick  and  the  aged,  patheti 
cally  imploring  the  protection  of  Heaven. 

The  Duke  of  Lorraine  conducted  with  great  energy,  re> 
pairing  the  dilapidated  fortifications,  stationing  in  posts  of 
peril  the  veteran  troops,  and  marshaling  the  citizens  and  the 


S20  THB     HOUSE     OF     AUSTBIA. 

Students  to  cooperate  with  the  garrison.  On  the  14th  of  July, 
1682,  the  banners  of  the  advance  guard  of  the  Turkish  army 
were  seen  from  the  walls  of  Vienna.  Soon  the  whole  mighty 
host,  like  an  inundation,  came  surging  on,  and,  surrounding 
the  city,  invested  it  on  all  sides.  The  terrific  assault  from  in- 
numerable batteries  immediately  commenced.  The  besieged 
were  soon  reduced  to  the  last  extremity  for  want  of  provisions, 
and  famine  and  pestilence  rioting  within  the  walls,  destroyed 
more  than  the  shot  of  the  enemy.  The  suburbs  were  de- 
stroyed, the  principal  outworks  taken,  several  breaches  were 
battered  in  the  walls,  and  the  terrified  inhabitants  were  hourly 
in  expectation  that  the  city  would  be  taken  by  storm.  There 
can  not  be,  this  side  of  the  world  of  woe,  any  thing  more  ter» 
rible  than  such  an  event. 

The  emperor,  in  his  terror,  had  dispatched  envoys  all  over 
Germany  to  rally  troops  for  the  defense  of  Vienna  and  the 
empire.  He  himself  had  hastened  to  Poland,  where,  with 
frantic  intreaties,  he  pressed  the  king,  the  renowned  John 
Sobieski,  whose  very  name  was  a  terror,  to  rush  to  his  reliefi 
Sobieski  left  orders  for  a  powerful  army  immediately  to  com- 
mence their  march.  But,  without  waiting  for  their  compar- 
atively slow  movements,  he  placed  himself  at  the  head  of  three 
thousand  Polish  horsemen,  and,  without  incumbering  himself 
with  luggage,  like  the  sweep  of  the  whirlwind  traversed  ^ 
lesia  and  Moravia,  and  reached  Tulen,  on  the  banks  of  the 
Danube,  about  twenty  miles  above  Vienna.  He  had  been 
told  by  the  emperor  that  here  he  would  find  an  army  await- 
ing him,  and  a  bridge  constructed,  by  which  he  could  cross 
i>he  stream.  But,  to  his  bitter  disappointment,  he  found  no 
army,  and  the  bridge  unfinished.    Indignantly  he  exclaimed, 

"  What  does  the  emperor  mean  ?  Does  he  think  me  a 
mere  adventurer  ?  I  left  my  own  army  that  I  might  take 
eommand  of  his.  It  is  not  for  myself  that  I  fight,  but  for 
him." 

Notwithstanding  this  disappointment,  he  called  into  re- 


LEOPOLD     t.  8t1 

qnisitioi.  all  his  energies  to  meet  the  crisis.  The  bridge  was 
pushed  forward  to  its  completion.  The  loitering  Gemian 
troops  were  hurried  on  to  the  rendezvous.  After  a  few  days 
the  Polish  troops,  by  forced  marches,  arrived,  and  Sobieski 
found  himself  at  the  head  of  sixty  thousand  men,  experienced 
soldiers,  and  well  supplied  with  all  the  munitions  of  war.  On 
the  11th  of  September  the  inhabitants  of  the  city  were  over- 
joyed, in  descrying  from  the  towers  of  the  city,  in  the  dis- 
tance, the  approaching  banners  of  the  Polish  and  German 
army.  Sobieski  ascended  an  elevation,  and  long  and  carefully 
scrutinized  the  position  of  the  besieging  host.  He  then 
calmly  remarked, 

"  The  grand  vizier  has  selected  a  bad  position.  I  under- 
stand him.  He  is  ignorant  of  the  arts  of  war,  and  yet  thinks 
that  he  has  military  genius.  It  will  be  so  easy  to  conquer 
him,  that  we  shall  obt  '  :  no  honor  from  the  victory." 

Early  the  next  morning,  the  12th  of  September,  the  Polish 
and  German  troops  rushed  to  the  assault,  with  such  amazing 
impetuosity,  and  guided  by  such  military  skill,  that  the  Turks 
were  swept  before  them  as  by  a  torrent.  The  army  of  the 
grand  vizier,  seized  by  a  panic,  fled  so  precipitately,  that  they 
left  baggage,  tents,  ammunition  and  provisions  behind.  The 
garrison  emerged  from  the  city,  and  cooperated  with  the 
victors,  and  booty  of  indescribable  value  fell  into  their  hands. 
As  Sobieski  took  possession  of  the  abandoned  camp,  stored 
with  all  the  wealth  and  luxuries  of  the  East,  he  wrote,  in  a 
tone  of  pleasantry  to  his  wife, 

"  The  grand  vizier  has  left  me  his  heir,  and  I  inherit  mil- 
lions of  ducats.  When  I  return  home  I  shall  not  be  met  with 
the  reproach  of  the  Tartar  wives,  '  You  are  not  a  man,  be- 
cause you  have  come  back  without  booty.* " 

The  inhabitants  of  Vienna  flocked  out  from  the  city  to 
^eet  the  king  as  an  angel  deliverer  sent  from  heaven.  The  next 
morning  the  gates  of  the  city  were  thrown  open,  the  streets 
were  garlanded  with  flowers,  and  the  King  of  Poland  had  a 


822  THE     HOnSB    OF     AUSTRIA. 

triumphal  reception  in  the  streets  of  the  metropolis.  The 
enthusiasm  and  gratitude  of  the  people  passed  all  ordinary 
bounds.  The  bells  rang  their  merriest  peals ;  files  of  maid- 
ens lined  his  path,  and  acclamations,  bursting  from  the  heart* 
greeted  him  every  step  of  his  way.  They  called  him  their 
father  and  deliverer.  They  struggled  to  kiss  his  feet  and  even 
to  touch  his  garments.  With  difficulty  he  pressed  through  the 
grateful  crowd  to  the  cathedral,  where  he  prostrated  himself 
before  the  altar,  and  returned  thanks  to  God  for  the  signal  vic- 
tory. As  he  returned,  after  a  public  dinner,  to  his  camp,  he 
said,  "  This  is  the  happiest  day  of  my  life." 

Two  days  after  this,  Leopold  returned,  trembling  and  hu- 
miliated to  his  capital.  He  was  received  in  silence,  and  with 
undisguised  contempt.  His  mortification  was  intense,  and  he 
could  not  endure  to  hear  the  praises  which  were  everywhere 
lavished  upon  Sobieski.  Jealousy  rankled  in  his  heart,  and 
he  vented  his  spite  upon  all  around  him.  It  was  necessary 
that  he  shoula  have  an  interview  with  the  heroic  king  who  had 
80  nobly  come  to  his  rescue.  But  instead  of  meeting  him  with 
a  warm  and  grateful  heart,  he  began  to  study  the  punctilios  ol 
etiquette,  that  the  dreaded  interview  might  be  rendered  as 
cold  and  formal  as  possible. 

Sobieski  was  merely  an  elective  monarch.  Leopold  was  a 
hereditary  king  and  an  emperor.  Leopold  even  expressed 
some  doubt  whether  it  were  consistent  with  his  exalted  digni- 
ty to  grant  the  Polish  king  the  honor  of  an  audience.  He  in- 
quired whether  an  elected  monarch  had  ever  been  admitted  to 
the  presence  of  an  emperor;  and  if  so,  with  what  forms,  in 
the  present  case,  the  king  should  be  received.  The  Duke 
of  Lorraine,  of  whom  he  made  the  inquiry,  disgusted  with 
the  mean  spirit  of  the  emperor,  nobly  replied,  '*  With  open 
arms." 

But  the  soulless  Leopold  had  every  movement  punctili- 
ously arranged  according  to  the  dictates  of  his  ignoble  spirit. 
'J^he  Polish  and  Austrian  armies  were  drawn  up  in  opposite 


I^EPPOLD     I.  S8S 

Rnes  upon  the  plain  before  the  city.  At  a  concei-ted  signal  the 
emperor  and  the  king  emerged  from  their  respective  rankSi 
and  rode  out  upon  the  open  plain  to  meet  each  other.  Sobi- 
eski,  a  man  of  splendid  bearing,  magnificently  mounted,  and 
dressed  in  the  bi-illiant  uniform  of  a  Polish  warrior,  attracted 
all  eyes  and  the  admiration  of  all  hearts.  His  war  steed 
pranced  proudly  as  if  conscious  of  the  royal  burden  he  bore, 
and  of  the  victories  he  had  achieved,  Leopold  was  an  nngain* 
ly  man  at  the  best.  Conscious  of  his  inability  to  vie  with  the 
hero,  in  his  personal  presence,  he  affected  the  utmost  simpli* 
city  of  dress  and  equipage.  Humiliated  also  by  the  cold  recep. 
aon  he  had  met  and  by  the  consciousness  of  extreme  nnpopa* 
larity  in  both  armies,  he  was  embarrassed  and  dejected.  The 
contrast  was  very  striking,  adding  to  the  renown  of  Sobiesld, 
and  sinking  Leopold  still  deeper  in  contempt. 

The  two  sovereigns  advanced,  formally  saluted  each  othei 
with  bows,  dismounted  and  embraced.  A  few  cold  words  were 
exchanged,  when  they  again  embraced  and  remounted  to  re- 
view  the  troops.  But  Sobieiki,  frank,  cordial,  impulsive,  was 
80  disgusted  with  this  reception,  so  different  from  what  he  had 
a  right  to  expect,  that  he  excused  himself,  and  rode  to  his  tent, 
leaving  his  chancellor  Zaluski  to  accompany  the  emperor  oa 
the  review.  As  Leopold  rode  along  the  lines  he  was  received 
in  contemptuous  silence,  and  be  returned  to  his  palace  in  Vi^ 
enna,  tortured  by  wounded  pride  and  chagrin. 

The  treasure  abandoned  by  the  Turks  was  so  abundant 
that  five  days  were  spent  in  gathering  it  up.  The  victoiiout 
army  then  commenced  the  pursuit  of  the  retreating  foe.  About 
one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  below  Vienna,  where  the  majestic 
Danube  turns  suddenly  from  its  eastern  course  and  flows  to- 
ward the  south,  is  situated  the  imperial  city  of  Gran.  Upon 
a  high  precipitous  rock,  overlooking  both  the  town  and  the 
river,  there  had  stood  for  centuries  one  of  the  most  imposing 
fortresses  which  mortal  hands  have  ever  reared.  For  seventy 
years  this  post  had  been  in  the  hands  of  the  Turks,  and  strox^ 


S24  THE     HOUSE     OF     AU8TBIA, 

\y  garrisoned  by  four  thousand  troops,  had  bid  denance  to 
every  assault.  Here  the  thinned  and  bleeding  battalions  of 
the  grand  vizier  sought  refuge.  Sobieski  and  the  Duke  of 
Lorraine,  flushed  with  victory,  hurled  their  masses  upon  the 
disheartened  foe,  and  the  Turks  were  routed  with  enormous 
slaughter.  Seven  thousand  gory  corpses  of  the  dead  stre  red 
the  plain.  Many  thousands  were  driven  into  the  river  and 
drowned.  The  fortress  was  taken,  sword  in  hand ;  and  the  rem- 
nant of  the  Moslem  army,  in  utter  discomfiture,  fled  down  the 
Danube,  hardly  resting,  by  night  or  by  day,  till  they  were  safe 
behind  the  ramparts  of  Belgrade. 

Both  the  German  and  the  Polish  troops  were  disgusted 
with  Leopold.  Having  reconquered  Hungary  for  the  emperor, 
they  were  not  disposed  to  remain  longer  in  his  service.  Most 
of  the  German  auxiliaries,  disbanding,  returned  to  their  own 
countries.  Sobieski,  declaring  that  he  was  willing  to  fight 
against  the  Turks,  but  not  against  Tekeli  and  his  Christian 
confederates,  led  back  his  troops  to  Poland.  The  Duke  of  Lor- 
raine was  now  left  with  the  Austrian  troops  to  struggle  against 
Tekeli  with  the  Hungarian  patriots.  The  Turks,  exasperated 
by  the  defeat,  accused  Tekeli  of  being  the  cause.  By  stratagem 
he  was  seized  and  sent  in  chains  to  Constantinople.  The  chiel 
who  succeeded  him  turned  traitor  and  joined  the  imperialists, 
rhe  cause  of  the  patriots  was  ruined.  Victory  now  kept  pace 
with  the  march  of  the  Duke  of  Lorraine.  The  Turks  were 
driven  from  all  their  fortresses,  and  Leopold  again  had  Hun- 
gary at  his  feet.  His  vengeance  was  such  as  might  have  been 
expected  from  such  a  man. 

Far  away,  in  the  wilds  of  northern  Hungary,  at  the  base 
of  the  Carpathian,  mountains,  on  the  river  Tarcza,  one  of  the 
tributaries  of  the  Theiss,  is  the  strongly  fortified  town  of 
Eperies.  At  this  remote  spot  the  diabolical  emperor  estab- 
lished his  revolutionary  tribunal,  as  if  he  thought  that  the 
shrieks  of  his  victims,  there  echoing  through  the  savage  de- 
files of  the  mountains,  could  not  awaken  the  horror  of  civil? 


LEOPOLD     I.  m 

ized  Europe.  His  armed  bands  scoured  the  country  and  trans- 
ported  to  Eperies  every  individual,  man,  woman  and  child, 
who  was  even  suspected  of  sympathizing  with  the  insurgenfa. 
There  was  hardly  a  man  of  wealth  or  influence  in  the  king- 
dom who  was  not  dragged  before  this  horrible  tribunal,  com. 
posed  of  ignorant,  brutal,  sanguinary  officers  of  the  king.  Their 
summary  trial,  without  any  forms  of  justice,  was  an  awful  trag- 
edy. They  were  thrown  into  dungeons;  their  property  ooo- 
fiscHted ;  they  were  exposed  to  the  most  direful  tortures  whioh 
human  ingenuity  could  devise,  to  extort  confession  and  to  eoill> 
pel  them  to  criminate  friends.  By  scores  they  were  daily  ooo- 
eigned  to  the  scaffold.  Thirty  executioners,  with  their  assist* 
ants,  found  constant  employment  in  beheading  tte  condemned. 
In  the  middle  of  the  town,  the  scaffold  was  raised  for  thil 
butchery.  The  spot  is  still  called  "  The  Bloody  Theater  €i 
Eperies." 

Leopold,  having  thus  glutted  his  vengeance,  defiantly  con- 
Toked  a  diet  and  crowned  his  son  Joseph,  a  boy  twelve  years 
of  age,  as  King  of  Hungary,  practically  saying  to  the  nobles^ 
•*  Dispute  his  hereditary  right  now,  if  you  dare."  The  em* 
peror  had  been  too  often  instructed  in  the  vicissitudes  of  war 
to  feel  that  even  in  this  hour  of  triumph  be  was  perfectly  safe. 
He  knew  that  other  days  might  come  ;  that  other  foes  might 
rise ;  and  that  Hungary  could  never  forget  the  rights  of  whioh 
she  had  been  defrauded.  He  therefore  exhausted  all  the  arts 
of  threats  and  bribes  to  induce  the  diet  to  pass  a  decree  that 
the  crown  was  no  longer  elective  but  hereditary.  It  is  mar^ 
velous  that  in  such  an  hour  there  could  have  been  any  energy 
left  to  resist  his  will.  But  with  all  his  terroi-s  he  could  only 
e^ort  from  the  diet  their  consent  that  the  succession  to  the 
crown  should  be  confirmed  in  the  males,  but  that  npon  tbe 
extinction  of  the  male  line  the  crown,  instead  of  being  hered- 
itary in  the  female  line,  should  revert  to  the  nation,  who  should 
lin  confer  it  by  the  right  of  election. 

Leopold  reluctantly  yielded  to  this,  as  the  most  be  coidd 


526  THE      HOUSE      OF      AUSTRIA. 

then  hope  to  accomplish.  The  emperor,  elated  by  success^ 
assumed  such  imperious  airs  as  to  repel  from  him  all  his  former 
allies.  For  several  years  Hungary  was  but  a  battle-field  where 
Austrians  and  Turks  met  in  incessant  and  bloody  conliicts. 
But  Leopold,  in  possession  of  all  the  fortresses,  succee  led  in 
repelling  each  successive  invasion. 

Both  parties  became  weary  of  war.  In  November,  1697, 
negotiations  were  opened  at  Carlovitz,  and  a  truce  was  con- 
cluded for  twenty-five  years.  The  Turks  abandoned  both 
Hungary  and  Transylvania,  and  these  two  important  provinces 
became  more  firmly  than  ever  before,  integral  portions  of  the 
Austrian  empire.  By  the  peace  of  Carlovitz  the  sultan  lost 
one  half  of  his  possessions  in  Europe.  Austria,  in  the  grandeur 
9f  her  territory,  was  never  more  powerful  than  at  this  hour: 
extending  across  the  whole  breadth  of  Europo,  from  the  valley 
of  the  Rhine  to  the  Euxine  sea,  and  from  the  Carpathian 
mountains  to  the  plains  of  Italy.  A  more  heterogeneous  con- 
glomeration of  States  never  existed,  consisting  of  kingdoms, 
archduchies,  duchies,  principalities,  counties,  margraves,  land- 
graves and  imperial  cities,  nearly  all  with  their  hereditary 
rulers  subordinate  to  the  emperor,  and  with  their  local  cus- 
toms and  laws. 

Leopold,  though  a  weak  and  bad  man,  in  addition  to  all 
this  power,  swayed  also  the  imperial  scepter  over  all  the  States 
of  Germany.  Though  his  empire  over  all  was  frail,  and  his 
vast  dominions  were  liable  at  any  moment  to  crumble  to  pieces, 
Me  still  was  not  content  with  consolidating  the  realms  he  held, 
but  was  anxiously  grasping  for  more.  Spain  was  the  prize  now 
to  be  won.  Louis  XIV.,  with  the  concentrated  energies  of 
the  French  kingdom,  was  claiming  it  by  virtue  of  his  marriage 
with  the  eldest  daughter  of  the  deceased  monarch,  notwith- 
standing his  solemn  renunciation  of  all  right  at  his  marriage 
in  favor  of  the  second  daughter.  Leopold,  as  the  husband 
of  the  second  daughter,  claimed  the  crown,  in  the  event, 
then  impending,  of  the  death  of  the  imbecile  and  childless 


LBOPOLD    I.  82V 

king.  Tliis  qaarrel  agitated  Europe  to  its  center,  and  dei> 
nged  her  fields  with  blood.  If  the  elective  franchise  is  at 
times  the  source  of  agitation,  the  law  of  hereditary  succes* 
rion  most  certainly  doee  not  always  cxxifiar  (ranqoiliity  and 


CHAPTER    XXI. 

liBOPOLD   I.    AND    THE    SPANISH    SUCCESSION. 

From  1697  to  1710. 

tax  Spanish  Sucoessic-n. — Thk  Impotenok  op  Charles  IL — Appeal  to  the  Pops. — Ha 
Decision. — Death  op  Charles  II. — Accession  op  Philip  V. — Indignation  op  Atrs- 
TBiA. — The  outbreak  op  War. — Charles  III.  crowned. — Insurrection  in  Hun- 
gary.—Defection  OP  Bavaria. — The  Battle  of  Blenheim. — Dbath  of  Leopold 
I. — Eleonoea. — Accession  op  Joseph  I. — Charles  XII.  op  Sweden. — Charles  III- 
tN  Spain. — Battle  of  Malplaqubt. — Charles  at  Barcelona.— Chakles  at  Ma- 
drid. 

CHARLES  II.,  King  of  Spain,  was  one  of  the  most  impo- 
tent of  men,  in  both  body  and  mind.  The  law  of  hered- 
itary descent  had  placed  this  semi-idiot  upon  the  throne  of 
Spain  to  control  the  destinies  of  twenty  millions  of  people. 
The  same  law,  in  the  event  of  his  death  without  heirs,  would 
carry  the  crown  across  the  Pyrenees  to  a  little  boy  in  the  pal- 
ace of  Versailles,  or  two  thousand  miles,  to  the  banks  of  the 
Danube,  to  another  little  boy  in  the  gardens  of  Vienna. 
Louis  XIV.  claimed  the  Spanish  scepter  in  behalf  of  his  wife, 
the  Spanish  princess  Maria  Theresa,  and  her  son.  Leopold 
claimed  it  in  behalf  of  his  deceased  wife,  Margaret,  and  her 
child.  For  many  years  before  the  death  of  Philip  II.  the  en- 
voys of  France  and  Austria  crowded  the  court  of  Spain,  em- 
ploying all  the  arts  of  intrigue  and  bribery  to  forward  the  in- 
terests of  their  several  sovereigns.  The  different  courts  of 
Europe  espoused  the  claims  of  the  one  party  or  the  other, 
accordingly  as  their  interests  would  be  promoted  by  the  ag- 
grandizement of  the  house  of  Bourbon  or  the  house  of  Haps- 
burg. 

Louis  XrV.  prtspared  to  strike  a  sudden  blow  by  gathering 


LEOPOLD    I.    AND    THK    SPANISH    SUCCESSION.         329 

an  army  of  one  hundred  thousand  men  in  his  fortresses  near  the 
Spanish  frontier,  in  establishing  immense  magazines  of  military 
stores,  and  in  tilling  the  adjacent  harbors  with  ships  of  war. 
The  sagacious  French  monarch  had  secured  the  cooperation 
of  the  pope,  and  of  some  of  the  most  influential  Jesuits  who 
gurronnded  the  sick  and  dying  monarch.  Charles  II.  had  long 
been  harassed  by  the  importunities  of  both  parties  that  he 
should  give  the  influence  of  his  voice  in  the  decision.  Tor- 
tured by  the  incessant  vacillations  of  his  own  mind,  he  was 
at  last  influenced,  by  the  suggestions  of  his  spiritual  advisers, 
to  refer  the  question  to  the  pope.  He  accordingly  sent  an  em- 
bassage to  the  pontiff  with  a  letter  soliciting  counsel. 

"  Having  no  children,"  he  observed,  "  and  being  obliged 
to  appoint  an  heir  to  the  Spanish  crown  from  a  foreign  family, 
we  find  such  great  obscurity  in  the  law  of  succession,  that  we 
are  unable  to  form  a  settled  determination.  Strict  justice  is 
our  aim  ;  and,  to  be  able  to  decide  with  that  justice,  we  have 
offered  up  constant  prayers  to  God.  We  are  anxious  to  act 
rightly,  and  we  have  recourse  to  your  holiness,  as  to  an  infal- 
lible guide,  intreating  you  to  consult  with  the  cardinals  and 
divines,  and,  after  having  attentively  examined  the  testaments 
of  our  ancestors,  to  decide  according  to  the  rules  of  right  and 
equity." 

Pope  Innocent  XII.  was  already  prepared  for  this  appeal, 
and  was  engaged  to  act  as  the  agent  of  the  French  comt. 
The  hoary-headed  pontiff,  with  one  foot  in  the  grave,  affected 
the  character  of  great  honesty  and  impartiality.  He  required 
forty  days  to  examine  the  important  case,  and  to  seek  divine 
assistance.  He  then  returned  the  following  answer,  admhably 
adapted  to  influence  a  weak  and  superstitious  prince  : 

"  Being  myself,"  he  wrote,  "  in  a  situation  similar  to  that 
of  his  Catholic  majesty,  the  King  of  Spain,  on  the  point  of 
appearing  at  the  judgment-seat  of  Christ,  and  rendering  an 
account  to  the  sovereign  pastor  of  the  flock  which  has  been 
intrusted  to  my  care,  J  am  bound  to  give  such  advice  as  will 


830  THE     HOUSB     OF     AUSTBIA. 

DOt  reproach  my  conscience  on  the  day  of  judgment.  Toni 
majesty  ought  not  to  put  the  interests  of  the  house  of  Austria 
in  competition  with  those  of  eternity.  Neither  should  you  be 
ignorant  that  the  French  claimants  are  the  i^ghtful  heirs  of 
the  crown,  and  no  member  of  the  Austrian  family  has  the 
smallest  legitimate  pretension.  It  is  therefore  your  duty  to 
omit  no  precaution,  which  your  wisdom  can  suggest,  to  render 
justice  where  justice  is  due,  and  to  secure,  by  every  means  ia 
your  power,  the  undivided  succession  of  the  Spanish  monarchy 
to  the  French  claimants." 

Charles,  as  fickle  as  the  wind,  still  remained  undecided, 
and  his  anxieties  preying  upon  his  feeble  frame,  already  ex- 
hausted by  disease,  caused  him  rapidly  to  decline.  He  was 
now  confined  to  his  chamber  and  his  bed,  and  his  death  wae 
hourly  expected.  He  hated  the  French,  and  all  his  sympathies 
were  with  Austria.  Some  priests  entered  his  chamber,  pro- 
fessedly to  perform  the  pompous  and  sepulchral  service  of  the 
church  of  Rome  for  the  dying.  In  this  hour  of  languor,  and 
in  the  prospect  of  immediate  death,  they  assailed  the  imbecile 
monarch  with  all  the  terrors  of  superstition.  They  depicted 
the  responsibility  which  he  would  incur  should  he  entail  on 
the  kingdom  the  woes  of  a  disputed  succession  ;  they  assured 
him  that  he  could  not,  without  unpardonable  guilt,  reject  the 
decision  of  the  holy  &ther  of  the  Church  ;  and  growing  more 
eager  and  excited,  they  denounced  upon  him  the  vengeance  of 
Almighty  God,  if  he  did  not  bequeath  the  crown,  now  falling 
from  his  brow,  to  the  Bourbons  of  France. 

TTie  dying,  half-delirious  king,  appalled  by  the  terrors  of 
eternal  damnation,  yielded  helplessly  to  their  demands.  A 
will  was  already  prepared  awaiting  his  signature.  With  a 
hand  trembling  in  death,  the  king  attached  to  it  his  name ; 
but  as  he  did  so,  he  burst  into  tears,  exclaiming,  "  I  am  al* 
ready  nothing.**  It  was  supposed  that  he  could  then  survive 
but  a  few  hours.  Contrary  to  all  expectation  he  revived,  and 
expressed  the  keenest  indignation  and  anguish  that  he  had 


LBOPOLD    I.    AND    TUB    SPANISH     SUCCESSION.      881 

been  thus  beguiled  to  decide  against  Austi'ia,  and  in  favor  ol 
France.  He  even  sent  a  courier  to  the  emperor,  announcing 
his  determination  to  decide  in  favor  of  the  Austrian  claimant. 
The  flickering  flame  of  life,  thus  revived  for  a  moment,  glim- 
mered again  in  the  socket  and  expired.  The  wretched  king 
died  the  Ist  of  November,  1699,  in  the  fortieth  year  of  his 
age,  and  the  thirty-sixth  of  his  reign. 

On  the  day  of  his  death  a  council  of  State  was  convened, 
and  the  will,  the  very  existence  of  which  was  generally  un- 
known, was  read.  It  declared  the  Dauphin  of  France,  son  oi 
the  Spanish  princess  Maria  Theresa,  to  be  the  successor  to  all 
the  Spanish  dominions ;  and  required  all  subjects  and  vassals 
of  Spain  to  acknowledge  him.  The  Austrian  party  were  as- 
tounded at  this  revelation.  The  French  party  wei-e  prepared 
to  receive  it  without  any  surprise.  The  son  of  Maria  Theresa 
was  dead,  and  the  crown  consequently  passed  to  her  grandson 
Philip.  Louis  XIV.  immediately  acknowledged  his  title,  when 
he  was  proclaimed  king,  and  took  quiet  possession  of  the 
throne  of  Spain  on  the  24th  of  November,  1700,  as  Philip  V. 

It  was  by  such  fi-aud  that  the  Bourbons  of  France  attained 
the  succession  to  the  Spanish  crown ;  a  fraud  as  palpable  as 
was  ever  committed ;  for  Maria  Theresa  had  renounced  all 
her  rights  to  the  throne  ;  this  renunciation  had  been  con- 
firmed by  the  will  of  her  father  Philip  IV.,  sanctioned  by  the 
Cortes  of  Spain,  and  solemnly  ratified  by  her  husband,  Louis 
XIV.  Such  is  "  legitimacy — the  divine  right  of  kings."  All 
the  great  powers  of  Europe,  excepting  the  emperor,  promptly 
acknowledged  the  title  of  Philip  V. 

Leopold,  enraged  beyond  measure,  dispatched  envoys  to 
rouse  the  empire,  and  made  the  most  formidable  preparations 
for  war.  A  force  of  eighty  thousand  men  was  soon  as- 
sembled. The  war  commenced  in  Italy.  Leopold  sent  down 
his  German  troops  through  the  defiles  of  the  Tyrol,  and,  in 
the  valley  of  the  Adige,  they  encountered  the  combined  ar- 
miPH  of  France,  Spain  and  Italy.     Prince  Eugene,  who  had 


S32  TUE      UOUSE     OF     AU8TBIA. 

already  acquired  great  renown  in  the  wars  against  the  Turks. 
though  by  birth  a  French  noble,  had  long  been  in  the  Austrian 
service,  and  led  the  Austrian  troop? .'-  William,  of  England, 
jealous  of  the  encroachments  of  Louis  XIV.,  and  leading  with 
him  the  States  of  Holland,  formed  an  alliance  with  Austria. 
This  was  pretty  equally  dividing  the  miUtary  power  of  Europe, 
and  a  wai  of  course  ensued,  almost  unparalleled  in  its  san- 
guinary ferocity.  The  English  nation  supported  the  monarch; 
the  House  of  Lords,  in  an  address  to  the  king,  declared  that 
"  his  majesty,  his  subjects  and  his  allies,  could  never  be  secure 
till  the  house  of  Austria  should  be  restored  to  its  rights,  and 
the  invader  of  the  Spanish  monarchy  brought  to  reason." 
Forty  thousand  sailors  and  forty  thousand  land  troops  were 
promptly  voted  for  the  war. 

William  died  on  the  16th  of  March,  in  consequence  of  a 
fall  from  his  horse,  and  was  succeeded  by  Anne,  daughter  of 
James  H.  She  was,  however,  but  nominally  the  sovereign. 
The  infamously  renowned  Duke  of  Marlborough  became  the 
real  monarch,  and  with  great  skill  and  energy  prosecuted  the 
eleven  years'  war  which  ensued,  which  is  known  in  history  as 
the  War  of  the  Spanish  Succession.  For  many  months  the 
conflict  raged  with  the  usual  fluctuations,  the  Austrian  forces 
being  commanded  on  the  Rhine  by  the  Duke  of  Marlborough, 
and  in  Italy  by  Prince  Eugene.  Portugal  soon  joined  the 
Austrian  alliance,  and  Philip  V.  and  the  French  becoming  un- 
popular in  Spain,  a  small  party  rose  there,  advocating  tho 
claims  of  the  house  of  Austria.  Thus  supported,  Leopold,  at 
Vienna,  declared  his  son  Charles  King  of  Spain,  and  crowned 
him  as  such  in  Vienna.  By  the  aid  of  the  English  fleet  he 
passed  from  Holland  to  England,  and  thence  to  Lisbon,  wher« 
a  powerful  army  was  assembled  to  invade  Spain,  wrest  the 
!WOwn  from  Philip,  and  place  it  upon  the  brow  of  Charles 
III. 

And  now  Leopold  began  to  reap  the  bitter  consequenoet 
oi  his  atrocious  conduct  in  Hungary.    The  Hungarian  noblw 


LBOPOi^D     I.    AND    THE    SPANISH     SUCCESSION.      833 

embraced  this  opportunity,  when  the  imperial  armies  were 
fully  engaged,  to  rise  in  a  new  and  formidable  invasion.  Fran- 
cis Ragotsky,  a  Transylvanian  prince,  led  in  the  heroic  enter- 
prise. He  was  of  one  of  the  noblest  and  wealthiest  families 
of  the  realm,  and  was  goaded  to  action  by  the  bitterest  wrongs. 
His  grandfather  and  uncle  had  been  beheaded ;  his  father 
robbed  of  his  property  and  his  rank ;  his  cousin  doomed  to 
perpetual  imprisonment ;  his  father-in-law  proscribed,  and  hia 
mother  driven  into  exile.  The  French  court  immediately 
opened  a  secret  correspondence  with  Ragotsky,  promising  him 
large  supplies  of  men  and  money,  and  encouraging  him  with 
hopes  of  the  co6{)eration  of  the  Turks.  Ragotsky  secretly 
assembled  a  band  of  determined  followers,  in  the  savage  soli- 
tudes of  the  Carpathian  mountains,  and  suddenly  descended  into 
the  plains  of  Hungary,  at  the  head  of  his  wild  followers,  call. 
ing  upon  his  countrymen  to  rise  and  shake  off  the  yoke  of  the 
detested  Austrian.  Adherents  rapidly  gathered  around  his 
standard ;  several  fortresses  fell  into  his  hands,  and  he  soon 
found  himself  at  the  head  of  twenty  thousand  well  armed 
troops.  The  flame  of  insurrection  spread,  with  electric  rapid- 
ity, through  all  Hungary  and  Transylvania. 

The  tyrant  Leopold,  as  he  heard  these  unexpected  tidings, 
W;is  struck  with  consternation.  He  sent  all  the  troops  he  could 
collect  to  oppose  the  patriots,  but  they  could  make  no  impres- 
sion upon  an  indignant  nation  in  arms.  He  then,  in  his  panic, 
attempted  negotiation.  But  the  Hungarians  demanded  terms 
both  reasonable  and  honorable,  and  to  neither  of  these  could 
the  emperor  possibly  submit.  They  required  that  the  mon- 
archy should  no  longer  be  hereditary,  but  elective,  according 
to  immemorial  usage ;  that  the  Hungarians  should  have  the 
right  to  resist  illegal  power  without  the  charge  of  treason  ; 
that  foreign  officers  and  garrisons  should  be  removed  from  the 
kingdom  ;  that  the  Protestants  should  be  reestablished  in  the 
free  exercise  of  their  reUgion,  and  that  their  confiscated  es- 
tates should  be  restored.     The  despot  could  not  listen  for  one 


M4  THE     HOUSE      OF     AUSTRIA 

moment  to  requirements  so  just ;  and  appalled  by  the  advance 
of  the  patriots  toward  Vienna,  >e  recalled  the  troops  from 
Italy. 

About  the  same  time  the  Duke  of  Bavaria,  disgusted  with 
the  arrogance  and  the  despotism  of  Leopold,  renounced  alle 
giance  to  the  emperor,  entered  into  an  alliance  with  the 
French,  and  at  the  head  of  forty  thousand  troops,  French  and 
Bavarians,  commenced  the  invasion  of  Austria  from  the  west. 
Both  Eugene  and  Marlborough  hastened  to  the  rescue  of  the 
emperor.  Combining  their  forces,  with  awful  slaughter  they 
mowed  down  the  French  and  Bavarians  at  Blenheim,  and  then 
overran  all  Bavaria.  The  elector  fled  with  the  mutilated  rem- 
nants of  his  army  to  France.  The  conquerors  seized  all  the 
fortresses,  all  the  guns  and  ammunition  ;  disbanded  the  Bava- 
rian troops,  took  possession  of  the  revenues  of  the  kingdom, 
and  assigned  to  the  heart-broken  wife  of  the  duke  a  humble 
residence  in  the  dismantled  capital  of  the  duchy. 

The  signal  victory  of  Blenheim  enabled  Leopold  to  con- 
centrate his  energies  upon  Hungary.  It  was  now  winter,  and 
the  belligerents,  during  these  stormy  months,  were  active  in 
making  preparations  for  the  campaign  of  the  spring.  But  Leo- 
pold's hour  was  now  tolled.  That  summons  came  which  prince 
and  peasant  must  alike  obey,  and  the  emperor,  after  a  few 
months  of  languor  and  pain,  on  the  6th  of  May,  1705,  passed 
away  to  that  tribunal  where  each  must  answer  for  every  deed 
done  In  the  body.  He  was  sixty-five  years  of  age,  and  had 
occupied  the  throne  forty-six  years.  This  is  the  longest  reign 
recorded  in  the  Austrian  annals,  excepting  that  of  Frederic  HI. 

The  reign  of  Leopold  was  eventful  and  woeful.  It  was  al- 
most one  continued  scene  of  carnage.  In  his  character  there 
was  a  singular  blending  of  the  good  and  the  bad.  In  what  is 
usually  called  moral  character  he  was  iiToproachable.  He  was 
a  faithftd  husband,  a  kind  father,  and  had  no  taste  for  any  sen- 
sual pleasures.  In  his  natural  disposition  he  was  melancholy, 
and  sc  exceedingly  reserved,  that  he  lived  in  his  palace  almost 


LEOPOLD    I.    AND    THE    SPANISH    SUCCESSION.      S36 

the  life  of  a  recluse.  Though  he  was  called  the  most  learndd 
|aince  of  his  age,  a  Jesuitical  education  had  so  poiBoned  and 
debauched  his  mind,  that  while  perpetrating  the  most  griev* 
ous  crimes  of  perfidy  and  cruelty,  he  seemed  sincerely  to  fed 
that  he  was  doing  God  service.  His  persecution  of  the  Prot- 
estants was  persistent,  relentless  and  horrible ;  while  at  the 
same  time  he  was  scmpuloos  in  his  devotions,  never  allowing 
the  cares  of  business  to  miertere  with  the  prescribed  duties  of 
the  Church.  The  Church,  the  human  church  of  popes,  cardi- 
nals, bishops  and  priests,  was  his  guide,  not  the  divine  £ible. 
Hence  bis  darkness  of  mind  and  his  crimes.  Pope  Innocent 
XI.  deemed  him  worthy  of  canonization.  But  an  indignant 
world  must  in  justice  inscribe  upon  his  tomb,  "  Tyrant  and 
Persecutor.'* 

He  was  three  times  married ;  first,  to  Margaret,  daughter 
of  Philip  IV.  of  Spain  ;  again,  to  Claudia,  daughter  of  FerdL 
nand  of  Tyrol  ;  and  a  third  time,  to  Eleonora,  daughter  of 
Philip,  Elector  Palatine.  The  character  and  history  of  hia 
third  wife  aie  peculiarly  illustrative  of  the  kind  of  religion  in- 
culcated in  that  day,  and  of  the  beautiful  spirit  of  piety  often 
exemplified  in  the  midst  of  melancholy  errors. 

In  the  castle  of  her  father,  Eleonora  was  taught,  by  priestg 
and  nuns,  that  God  was  only  acceptably  worshiped  by  self- 
sacrifice  and  mortification.  The  devout  child  longed  for  the 
Jove  of  God  more  than  for  any  thing  else.  Guided  by  the 
teachings  of  those  who,  however  sincere,  certainly  misunder- 
stood the  spirit  of  the  gospel,  she  deprived  herself  of  every 
innocent  gratification,  and  practiced  upon  her  fragile  frame  ail 
the  severities  of  an  anchorite.  She  had  been  taught  that 
celibacy  was  a  virtue  peculiarly  acceptable  to  God,  and  reso 
lutely  declined  all  solicitations  for  her  hand. 

Tlie  emperor,  after  the  death  of  his  fia«t  wife,  sought  Eleo- 

iiora  as  his  bride.    It  waa  the  most  brilliant  match  Europe 

could  offer.     Eleonora,  from  religious  scruples,  rejected  the 

oft'er,  notwithstanding  all  the  importunities  of  her  parents,  who 

O 


336  THE     HOUSB     OF     AUSTRIA. 

could  not  feel  reconciled  to  the  loss  of  so  splendid  an  allianoe, 
The  devout  maiden,  in  the  conflict,  exposed  herself,  bonnet- 
less,  to  sun  and  wind,  that  she  might  render  heroelf  unat- 
tractive, tanned,  sun -burnt,  and  freckled,  so  that  the  emperor 
might  not  desire  her.  She  succeeded  in  repelling  the  suit,  and 
the  emperor  married  Claudia  of  the  Tyrol.  The  court  of  the 
Elector  Palatine  was  brilliant  in  opulence  and  gayety.  Eieo- 
nora  was  compelled  to  mingle  with  the  festive  throng  in  the 
scenes  of  pomp  and  splendor;  but  her  thoughts,  her  affections, 
were  elsewhere,  and  all  the  vanities  of  princely  life  had  no  in- 
fluence in  leading  her  heart  from  God.  She  passed  several 
hours,  every  day,  in  devotional  reading  and  prayer.  She  kept 
a  very  careful  register  of  her  thoughts  and  actions,  scrutiniz- 
ing and  condemning  with  unsparing  severity  every  question- 
able emotion.  Every  sick  bed  of  the  poor  peasants  ai'ound, 
she  visited  with  sympathy  and  as  a  tender  nurse.  She  groped 
her  way  into  the  glooms  of  prison  dungeons  to  convey  solace 
to  the  prisoner.  She  wrought  ornaments  for  the  Church,  and 
toiled,  even  to  weariness  and  exhaustion,  in  making  garments 
for  the  poor. 

Claudia  in  three  years  died,  and  the  emperor  again  was 
»eft  a  widower.  Again  he  applied  for  the  hand  of  Eleonora. 
Her  spiritual  advisers  now  urged  that  it  was  clearly  the  will 
of  God  that  she  should  fill  the  first  throne  of  the  universe,  as 
the  patroness  and  protectress  of  the  Catholic  church.  For 
such  an  object  she  would  have  been  wUling  to  sweep  the  streets 
or  to  die  in  a  dungeon.  Yielding  to  these  persuasions  she  mar- 
ried the  emperor,  and  was  conveyed,  as  in  a  triumphal  march, 
to  the  gorgeous  palaces  of  Vienna,  But  her  character  and  her 
mode  of  hfe  were  not  changed.  Though  she  sat  at  the  impe- 
rial table,  which  was  loaded  with  eveiy  conceivable  luxury, 
§be  condemned  herself  to  fare  as  humble  and  abstemious  as 
eould  be  found  in  the  hut  of  the  most  impoverished  peasant. 
It  was  needful  for  her  at  times  to  appetr  in  the  rich  garb  of 
•n  empress,  but  to  prevent  any  possible  indulgence  of  pridei 


FRANZ  JOSEPH 


LEOPOLD    I.    AND    THE    SPANISH    SUCCKS810H.        3SY 

•he  had  her  bracelets  and  jewehy  bo  arranged  with  sharp  bra«hl 
ae  to  keep  her  in  continued  suffering  by  the  laceration  of  th« 
flesh. 

She  was,  notwithstanding  these  austerities,  which  she  prac- 
ticed with  the  utmost  secrecy,  indefatigable  in  the  discharge 
of  her  duties  as  a  wife  and  an  empress.  She  often  attended 
the  opera  with  the  emperor,  but  always  took  with  her  the 
Psalms  of  David,  bound  to  resemble  the  books  of  the  perform- 
ance, and  while  the  tragic  or  the  comic  scenes  of  the  stage 
were  transpiring  before  her,  she  was  studying  the  devout  lyrics 
of  the  Psalmist  of  Israel.  She  translated  al!  the  Psalms  into 
German  verse ;  and  also  translated  from  the  French,  and  had 
printed  for  the  benefit  of  her  subjects,  a  devotional  work  en- 
titled, "  Pious  Reflections  for  every  Day  of  the  Month.*'  Dur- 
ing the  last  sickness  of  her  husband  she  watched  with  un- 
wearied assiduity  at  his  bed-side,  shrinking  from  no  amount 
of  exhaustion  or  toil,  She  survived  her  husband  fifteen  years, 
devoting  all  this  time  to  austerities,  self-mortification  and  deeds 
of  charity.  She  died  in  1720  ;  and  at  her  express  request  was 
buried  without  any  parade,  and  with  no  other  inscription  apoo 
her  tomb  than — 

ELEONOBA, 

A     POOB     SIN  N  EBf 
Died,  January  17, 1790. 

Joseph,  the  eldest  son  of  Leopold,  was  twenty-five  years 
of  age  when,  by  the  death  of  his  father,  he  was  called  to  the 
throne  as  both  king  and  emperor  He  immediately  and  cor- 
dially cooperated  with  the  alliance  his  father  had  formed,  and 
pressed  the  war  against  France,  Spain  and  Italy.  Louis  XIV 
was  not  a  man,  however,  to  be  disheartened  by  disaster. 
Though  thousands  of  his  choicest  troops  had  found  a  grave 
at  Blenheim,  he  immediately  collected  another  army  of  ooe 
hundred  and  sixty  thousand  men,  and  pushed  them  forward  to 
the  seat  of  war  on  the  Rhine  and  the  Dannbe.    Marlborooig^ 


338  THE     HOUSE      OF     AUSTRIA. 

and  Eugene  led  Austrian  forces  to  the  field  still  more  power 
fhl.  The  whole  summer  was  spent  i  v  marches,  countermarches 
and  bloody  battles  on  both  sides  of  the  Rhine.  Winter  came, 
and  its  storms  and  snows  drove  the  exhausted,  bleeding  com- 
batants from  the  bleak  plains  to  shelter  and  the  fireside.  All 
Europe,  through  the  winter  months,  resounded  with  prepai-a- 
tions  for  another  campaign.  There  was  hardly  a  petty  prince 
on  the  continent  wl^o  was  not  drawn  into  the  strife — to  decide 
whether  Philip  of  Bourbon  or  Charles  of  Hapsburg,  was  en- 
titled by  hereditary  descent  to  the  throne  of  Spain. 

And  now  suddenly  Charles  XII.  of  Sweden  burst  in  upon 
the  scene,  like  a  meteor  amidst  the  stars  of  midnight.  A 
more  bloody  apparition  never  emerged  from  tue  sulphureous 
canopy  of  war.  Having  perfect  contempt  for  all  enervating 
pleasures,  with  an  iron  fi-ame  and  the  abstemious  habits  of  a 
Spartan,  he  rushed  thiough  a  career  which  has  excited  the 
wonder  of  the  world.  He  joined  the  Austrian  party;  struck 
down  Denmark  at  a  blow ;  penetrated  Russia  in  mid- winter, 
driving  the  Russian  troops  before  him  as  dogs  scatter  wolves  ; 
pressed  on  triumphantly  to  Poland,  through  an  interminable 
series  of  battles ;  drove  the  king  from  the  country,  and  placed 
a  new  sovereign  of  his  own  selection  upon  the  throne ;  and 
then,  proudly  assuming  to  hold  the  balance  between  the  rival 
powers  of  France  and  Austria,  made  demands  of  Joseph  I.,  aa 
if  the  emperor  were  but  the  vassal  of  the  King  of  Sweden. 
France  and  Austria  were  alike  anxious  to  gain  the  cooperation 
of  this  energetic  arm. 

Early  in  May,  1706,  the  armies  of  Austria  and  France,  each 
about  seventy  thousand  strong,  met  in  the  Netherlands.  Marl- 
borough led  the  allied  Austrian  troops ;  the  Duke  of  Bavaria 
was  in  command  of  the  French.  The  French  were  again 
routed,  almost  as  disastrously  as  at  Blenheim,  losing  thirteen 
thousand  men  and  fifty  pieces  of  artillery.  On  the  Rhine  and 
in  Italy  the  French  arms  were  also  in  disgrace.  Throughout 
4he  summer  battle  succeeded  battle,  and  siege  followed  siega 


LEOPOLD    I.    AND    THE    SPANISH    SUCCESSION.         336 

When  the  snows  of  another  winter  whitened  the  plains  of  Eu 
rope,  the  armies  again  retired  to  winter  quarters,  the  Austriar 
party  having  made  very  decided  progress  as  the  result  of  ;he 
campaign.  Marlborough  was  in  possession  of  most  of  the 
Netherlands,  and  was  threatening  France  with  invasion.  Eu- 
gene had  driven  the  French  out  of  Italy,  and  had  brought 
many  of  the  Italian  provinces  under  the  dominion  of  Aus- 
tria. 

In  Spain,  also,  the  warfare  was  fiercely  raging.  Charles  IIL, 
who  had  been  crowned  in  Vienna  King  of  Spain,  and  who,  as 
we  have  mentioned,  had  been  conveyed  to  Lisbon  by  a  British 
fleet,  joined  by  the  King  of  Portugal,  and  at  the  head  of  an 
allied  army,  marched  towards  the  frontiers  of  Spain.  The 
Spaniards,  though  they  disliked  the  French,  hated  virulently 
the  English  and  the  Dutch,  both  of  whom  they  considered 
heretics.  Their  national  pride  was  roused  in  seeing  England, 
Holland  and  Portugal  marching  upon  them  to  place  over  Spain 
an  Austrian  king.  The  populace  rose,  and  after  a  few  san- 
guinary conflicts  drove  the  invaders  from  their  borders.  De- 
cember's storms  separated  the  two  armies,  compelling  them  to 
seek  winter  quarters,  with  only  the  fi-ontier  line  between  them. 
It  was  in  one  of  the  campaigns  of  this  war,  in  1704,  that  the 
English  took  the  rock  of  Gibraltar,  which  they  have  held  from 
that  day  till  this. 

The  British  people  began  to  remonstrate  bitter/y  against 
this  boundless  expenditure  of  blood  and  treasure  merely  to  re- 
move a  Bourbon  prince,  and  place  a  Hapsburg  prince  upon 
the  throne  of  Spain.  Both  were  alike  despotic  in  character, 
and  Europe  had  as  ranch  to  fear  from  the  aggressions  of  the 
house  of  Austria  as  from  the  ambition  of  the  King  of  Fiance. 
The  Emperor  Joseph  was  very  apprehensive  that  the  English 
court  might  be  induced  to  withdraw  from  the  alliance,  and 
fearing  that  they  might  sacrifice,  as  the  price  of  accommoda- 
tion, his  conquests  in  Italy,  he  privately  concluded  with  France 
i»  treaty  of  neutrality  for  Italy.     This  secured  to  him  what  hfl 


•40  THE     HOUSE     OF     AUSTRIA. 

had  already  acquired  there,  and  saved  France  and  Spain  ^m 
the  danger  of  losing  any  more  Italian  Sf,ate8. 

Though  the  allies  were  indignant,  and  remonstrated  against 
this  transaction,  they  did  not  see  fit  to  abandon  the  war.  Im- 
mense preparations  were  made  to  ?n^  ade  France  from  the  Neth- 
erlands and  from  Piedmont,  in  the  opening  of  the  spring  of  1 707. 
Both  efforts  were  only  successful  in  spreading  far  and  wide 
conflagration  and  blood.  The  invaders  were  driven  from  the 
kingdom  with  heavy  loss.  The  campaign  in  Spain,  this  year, 
was  also  exceedingly  disastrous  to  the  Austiian  arms.  The 
heterogeneous  army  of  Charles  III.,  composed  of  Germans, 
English,  Dutch,  Portuguese,  and  a  few  Spanish  refugees,  were 
routed,  and  with  the  loss  of  thirteen  thousand  men  were  driven 
from  the  kingdom.  Joseph,  however,  who  stood  in  great 
dread  of  so  terrible  an  enemy  as  Charles  XII.,  succeeded  in 
purchasing  his  neutrality,  and  this  fiery  warrior  marched  off 
with  his  battalions,  forty-three  thousand  strong,  to  drive  Pe- 
ter I.  from  the  throne  of  Russia. 

Joseph  I,,  with  exhausted  resources,  and  embarrassed  by 
the  claims  of  so  wide-spread  a  war,  was  able  to  do  but  little 
for  the  subjugation  of  Hungary.  As  the  campaign  of  1708 
opened,  two  immense  armies,  each  about  eighty  thousand 
strong,  were  maneuvering  near  Brussels.  After  a  long  series 
of  marches  and  combinations  a  general  engagement  ensued,  in 
which  the  Austrian  party,  under  Marlborough  and  Eugene, 
were  decisively  triumphant.  The  French  were  routed  with 
the  loss  of  fifteen  thousand  in  killed,  wounded  and  prisoners. 
During  the  whole  summer  the  war  raged  throughout  the  Low 
Countries  with  unabated  violence.  In  Spain,  Austria  was  not 
able  to  make  any  progress  against  Philip  and  his  forces. 

Another  winter  came,  and  again  the  wearied  combatants, 
all  of  whom  had  received  about  as  many  blows  as  they  had 
given,  sought  repose.  The  winter  was  passed  in  fruitless 
negotiations,  and  as  soon  as  the  buds  of  another  spring  be- 
gan to  swell,  the  thunders  of  war  were  again  pealing  over 


LEOPOLD     I.     AND    THK     SPANISH     SUCCKSSION,      841 

nearly  all  the  hills  and  valleys  of  Europe.  The  Austrian  party 
had  resolved,  by  a  gigantic  effort,  to  send  an  army  of  one  hun- 
dred thousand  men  to  the  gates  of  Paris,  there  to  dictate 
terms  to  the  French  monarch.  On  thfe  11th  of  September, 
1709,  the  Austrian  force,  eighty  thousand  strong,  with  eighty 
pieces  of  cannon,  encounteied  the  French,  seventy  thousand 
in  number,  with  eighty  pieces  of  cannon,  on  the  field  sf  MaJ- 
plaquet.  The  bloodiest  battle  of  the  Spanish  succession  was 
then  fought.  The  Austrian  party,  guided  by  Marlborough 
and  Eugene,  justly  claimed  the  victory,  as  they  held  the  field. 
But  they  lost  twenty  thousand  in  killed  and  wounded,  and 
took  neither  prisoners  nor  guns.  The  loss  of  the  French  waa 
but  ten  thousand.  All  this  slaughter  seemed  to  be  accomplish- 
ing nothing.  Philip  still  stood  firm  upon  the  Spanish  throne, 
and  Charles  could  scarcely  gain  the  slightest  foothold  in  the 
kingdom  which  he  claimed.  On  the  side  of  the  Rhme  and  of 
Italy,  though  blood  flowed  like  water,  nothing  was  accom- 
plished ;  the  plan  of  invading  France  had  totally  failed,  and 
again  the  combatants  were  compelled  to  retire  to  winter 
quarters. 

For  nine  years  this  bloody  war  had  now  desolated  Europe. 
It  is  not  easy  to  defend  the  cause  of  Austria  and  her  allies  in 
this  cruel  conflict.  The  Spaniards  undeniably  preferred  PhiUp 
as  their  king.  Louis  XIV.  had  repeatedly  expressed  his  readi- 
ness to  withdraw  entirely  from  the  conflict.  But  the  Austrian 
allies  demanded  that  he  should  either  by  force  or  persuasion 
remove  Philip  from  Spain,  and  place  the  kingdom  in  the  hands 
of  the  Austrian  prince.  But  Philip  was  now  an  independent 
sovereign  who  for  ten  years  had  occupied  the  throne.  He 
was  resolved  not  to  abdicate,  and  his  subjects  were  resolved 
to  support  him.  Louis  XIV.  said  that  he  could  not  wage  war- 
fiire  against  his  own  grandson.  The  wretched  old  monarch, 
now  feeble,  childless,  and  woe  crushed,  whose  soul  was  already 
crimsoned  with  the  blood  of  countless  thousands,  was  so  di* 
pirited  by  defeat,  and  so  wearv  of  the  war,  that  though  h« 


842  THE    HOtrSB     OF     AU8TEIA. 

iitill  refused  to  send  his  armies  against  his  grandson,  he  evea 
offered  to  pay  a  monthly  subsidy  of  two  hundred  thousand 
dollars  (one  million  livres)  to  the  allied  Austrian  party,  to  be 
employed  in  the  eiq)ulsion  of  Hiilip,  if  they  would  cease  t€ 
make  war  upon  him.  Even  to  these  terms,  after  blood  had 
been  flowing  in  torrents  for  ten  years,  Austria,  England  and 
Holland  would  not  accede.  **  If  I  must  fight  either  Austria 
and  her  allies,"  said  Louis  XIV.,  **  or  the  Spaniards,  led  by 
their  king,  my  own  grandson,  I  prefer  to  fight  the  Austrians.** 

The  returning  sun  of  the  summer  of  1710,  found  the  hoe- 
tile  armies  again  in  the  field.  The  allies  of  Austria,  early  in 
April,  hoping  to  surprise  the  French,  assembled,  ninety  thou- 
sand in  number,  on  the  Flemish  frontiers  of  France,  trusting 
that  by  an  unexpected  attack  they  might  break  down  the  for- 
tresses which  had  hitherto  impeded  their  way.  But  the  French 
Were  on  the  alert  to  resist  them,  and  the  whole  summer  was 
again  expended  in  fruitless  battles.  These  fierce  conflicts  so 
concentrated  the  energies  of  war  in  the  Netherlands,  that  but 
little  was  attempted  in  the  way  of  invading  Spain.  The  Span- 
ish nobles  rallied  around  Philip,  melted  their  plate  to  replen- 
ish his  treasui-y,  and  led  their  vassals  to  fight  his  battles.  The 
ecclesiastics,  as  a  body,  supported  his  cause.  Philip  was  a 
eealous  Catholic,  and  the  priests  considered  him  as  the  de- 
fender  of  the  Church,  while  they  had  no  confidence  in  Charles 
of  Austria,  whose  cause  was  advocated  by  heretical  England 
and  Holland. 

Charles  HI.  was  now  in  Catalonia,  on  the  Mediterranean 
coast  of  Spain.  He  had  landed  at  Barcelona,  with  a  strong  force 
of  English  and  Germans.  He  was  a  man  of  but  little  character, 
and  his  military  operations  were  conducted  entirely  by  the 
English  general  Stanhope  and  the  German  general  Staremberg^ 
Hie  Engfidi  general  was  haughty  and  domineering ;  the  Get 
man  proud  and  stubborn.  They  were  in  a  continued  quarral 
contesting  the  preeminence.  The  two  rival  monarchs,  with 
forces  about  equal,  met  in  Catalonia  a  few  miles  fi-om  Sara- 


LEOPOLD  I.  AND  THE  SPANISH  SUCCESSION.   343 

gossa,  on  the  24th  of  July,  1710.  Though  the  ineflScient 
Charles  was  very  reluctant  to  hazard  a  battle,  the  generals  ift 
sisted  upon  it.  The  Spaniards  were  speedily  and  totally  routed. 
Pliilip  fled  with  a  small  body-guard  to  Lerida.  His  army  was 
thoroughly  dispersed.  The  conquerors  pressed  on  toward 
Madrid,  crossed  the  Ebro  at  Saragossa,  where  they  again  en- 
countered, but  a  short  distance  from  the  city,  an  army  strong- 
ly posted  upon  some  heights.  Philip  was  already  there.  The 
conflict  was  short  but  bloody,  and  the  generals  of  Cliarles  were 
again  victorious.  Philip,  with  a  disheartened  remnant  of  his 
troops,  retreated  to  Madrid.  The  generals  dragged  the  timid 
and  reluctant  Charles  on  to  Madrid,  where  they  arrived  on  the 
28th  of  September.  There  was  no  force  at  the  capital  to  op- 
pose them.  They  were  received,  however,  by  the  citizens  of 
the  metropolis  as  foreign  conquerors.  Charles  rode  through 
the  deserted  streets,  meeting  only  with  sullen  silence.  A  few 
who  were  hired  to  shout,  were  pelted,  by  the  populace,  with 
mud,  as  traitors  to  their  lawful  king.  None  flocked  to  his 
standard.  Nobles,  clergy,  populace,  all  alike  stood  aloof  from 
him.  Charles  and  his  generals  were  embarrassed  and  perplexed. 
They  could  not  compel  the  nation  to  receive  the  Austrian 
king. 

Philip,  in  the  meantime,  who  had  much  energy  and  popu- 
larity of  character,  was  rapidly  retrieving  his  losses,  and  troops 
were  flocking  to  his  camp  from  all  parts  of  Spain.  He  estab- 
lished his  court  at  Valladolid,  about  one  hundred  and  fifty 
miles  north-east  from  Madrid.  His  troops,  dispersed  by  the 
two  disastrous  battles,  were  reassembled  at  Lerida,  The  peas- 
ants rose  in  large  numbers  and  joined  them,  and  cut  off"  all 
oommunication  between  Charles  at  Madrid  and  his  ships  at 
Barcelona.  The  Spanish  grandees  sent  urgent  messages  to 
France  for  succors.  General  Vendome,  at  the  head  of  three 
thousand  horse,  swept  through  the  defiles  of  the  Pyrenees, 
and,  with  exultant  music  and  waving  banners,  joined  Philip  at 
Valladolid.    Universal  enthusiasm  was  excited.     Soon  thirty 


Z4fi  THE     HOUSE     OP     AUSTRIA. 

thousand  infantry  entered  the  camp,  and  then  took  positions 
on  the  Tagus,  where  they  could  cut  off  any  reinforcements 
which  might  attempt  to  march  fi'om  Portugal  io  aid  the  in- 
vaders. 

Charles  was  apparently  in  a  desperate  situation.  Famine 
and  consequent  sickness  were  in  his  camp.  His  army  was 
daily  dwindling  away.  He  was  em{^tically  in  an  enemy's 
country.  Not  a  soldier  could  stray  from  the  ranks  without 
danger  of  assassination.  He  had  taken  Madrid,  and  Madrid 
was  his  prison. 


CHAPTER    XXII. 

JOSEPH    I.    AND     CHARLES    VI. 
From  1710  to  1717. 

hKFLKxmBS  IN  Madrid. — Flioht  of  Cuables. — Retreat  or  the  AnsTRiAif  ABaT.— 
Stanhope's  Division  out  off. — Captitrb  of  Stanhope. — Starembebo  assailed.— 
Ebtreat  to  Barcelona. — Attempt  to  pacify  Hungary. — Tuk  Hungarian  Diet. 
— Baronial  crowning  of  Raootsky. — Renewal  of  the  Hungarian  War. — En- 
terprise of  Herbeville. — The  Hungarians  crushed. — Lenity  of  Joseph. — 
Death  of  Joseph. — Accession  of  Charles  VI.— His  Career  in  Spain.— Captubb 
of  Bakcelona. — The  Siege. — The  Rescue. — Character  of  Charles. — Cloistbbs 
of  Montseerat. — Increased  Efforts  for  the  Spanish  Crown. — Charles  crowned 
Emperor  of  Austria  and  Hungary. — Bohemia. — Deplorable  Condition  of  Loua 
XIV. 

GENERALS  Stanhope  and  Starembevg,  who  managed  the 
affairs  of  Charles,  with  but  little  respect  for  his  judgment, 
and  none  for  his  administrative  qualities,  were  in  great  per- 
plexity respecting  the  course  to  be  pursued.  Some  recom- 
mended the  transference  of  the  court  fi-om  Madrid  to  Sara- 
gossa,  where  they  would  be  nearer  to  their  supplies.  Others 
urged  removal  to  Barcelona,  where  they  would  be  under  th« 
protection  of  the  British  fleet.  It  was  necessary  to  watcK 
over  Charles  with  the  utmost  care,  as  he  was  in  constant  daiK 
ger  of  assassination.  Wliile  in  this  state  of  uncertainty,  tid- 
ings reached  Madrid  that  the  Duke  of  Noailles  was  on  the 
march,  with  fifteen  thousand  men,  to  cut  off  the  retreat  of  the 
Austrians,  and  at  the  same  time  Philip  was  advancing  with  a 
powerful  army  from  Valladolid.  This  intelhgence  rendered 
instant  action  necessary.  The  Austrian  party  precipitately 
evacuated  Madrid,  followed  by  the  execrations  of  the  people 
As  soon  as  the  last  battalions  had  left  the  city,  the  ringing  of 
bells,  the  firing  of  artillery,  and  the  shouts  of  the  people,  aa 


^46  THE     HOUSE     OF     AtJSTBIA, 

nouDced  the  popular  exultation  in  view  of  the  departure  of 
Charles,  and  the  cordial  greeting  they  were  giving  to  his  rival 
Philip.  The  complications  of  politics  are  very  curious.  The 
British  government  was  here,  through  years  of  war  and  blood, 
endeavoring  to  drive  from  his  throne  the  acknowledged  King 
of  Spain.  In  less  than  a  hundred  years  we  find  this  same 
government  again  deluging  Europe  in  blood,  to  reseat  i  upon 
the  throne  the  miserable  Ferdinand,  the  lineal  descendant  of 
this  Bourbon  prince. 

Charles  put  spurs  to  his  horse,  and  accompanied  by  a  glit- 
tering cavalcade  of  two  thousand  cavaliei'S,  galloped  over  the 
mountains  to  Barcelona.  His  army,  under  the  leadership  of 
his  efficient  English  general,  followed  rapidly  but  cautiously 
on,  hoping  to  press  through  the  djetiles  of  the  mountains  which 
separated  them  from  Arragon  before  their  passage  could  be 
obstructed  by  the  foe.  The  troops  were  chagrined  and  dis- 
pirited ;  the  generals  in  that  state  of  ill  humor  which  want  of 
success  generally  engenders.  The  roads  were  bad,  provisions 
scarce,  the  inhabitants  of  the  country  bitterly  hostile.  It  was 
the  middle  of  H'ovember,  and  cold  blasts  swept  through  the 
mountains.  Staremberg  led  the  van,  and  Stanhope,  with  four 
thousand  English  troops,  occupied  the  post  of  peril  in  a  retreat, 
the  rear.  As  the  people  of  the  country  would  furnish  them 
with  no  supplies,  the  pillage  of  towns  and  villages  became  a 
necessity  ;  but  it  none  the  less  added  to  the  exasperation  of 
the  Spaniards. 

A  hurried  march  of  about  eighty  miles  brought  the  troops 
TO  the  banks  of  the  Tagus.  As  General  Staremberg,  at  the 
head  cf  the  advance  guard,  pressed  eagerly  on,  he  left  Stan- 
hope at  quite  a  distance  behind.  They  encamped  for  a  night, 
the  advance  at  Ciftientes,  the  I'ear  at  Brihuega.  The  hostility 
of  the  natives  was  such  that  almost  all  communication  was 
cut  off  between  the  two  sections  of  the  army.  In  the  con- 
fusion of  the  hasty  retreat,  and  as  no  enemy  was  apprehended 
in  that  portion  of  the  way,  the  importance  of  hourly  commQ> 


JOSBPH    I.    AND    OHARLBS    YI.  347 

aication  was  tbrgotten.  In  the  morning,  as  Stanhope  put  hit 
troops  again  in  motion,  he  was  surprised  and  alarmed  in  see- 
ing upon  the  hills  before  him  the  banners  of  an  opposing  host, 
far  outnumbering  his  own,  and  strongly  intrenched.  The 
Earl  of  Stanhope  at  once  appreciated  the  nearly  utter  hope- 
lessness of  his  position.  He  was  cut  off  from  the  rest  of  the 
army,  had  no  artillery,  but  little  ammunition,  and  was  almost 
entirely  destitute  of  provision.  Still  be  scorned  to  surrender. 
He  threw  his  troops  behind  a  stone  wall,  and  vigorously  com- 
menced fortifying  his  position,  hoping  to  be  able  to  hold  out 
until  Staremberg,  hearing  of  his  situation,  should  come  to  hia 
release. 

During  the  whole  day  he  beat  back  the  assaults  of  the 
Spanish  army.  In  the  meantime  Staremberg  was  pressing  on 
to  Barcelona.  In  the  evening  of  that  day  he  heard  of  the 
peril  of  his  rear  guard.  His  troops  were  exhausted  ;  the 
night  of  pitchy  blackness,  and  the  miry  roads,  cut  to  pieces 
by  the  heavy  artillery  and  baggage  wagons,  were  horrible. 
Through  the  night  he  made  preparations  to  turn  back  to  aid 
his  beleaguered  friends.  It  was,  however,  midday  before 
he  could  collect  his  scattered  troops,  from  their  straggling 
march,  and  commence  retracing  his  steps.  In  a  few  hours 
the  low  sun  of  a  November  day  sunk  below  the  hills.  The 
troops,  overtaken  by  darkness,  stumbling  through  the  gloom, 
and  apprehensive  of  a  midnight  attack,  rested  upon  their 
arms,  waiting,  through  the  weary  hours,  for  the  dawn  of  the 
morning.  The  second  day  came,  and  the  weary  troops  toiled 
through  the  mire,  while  Stanhope,  from  behind  his  slight 
parapet,  baffled  all  the  efforts  of  his  foes. 

Th  V  third  morning  dawned.  Staremberg  was  within  some 
fifteen  miles  of  Briehuga.  Stanhope  had  now  exhausted  all  his 
ammunition.  The  inhabitants  of  the  town  rose  against  him 
and  attacked  him  in  the  rear,  while  the  foe  pressed  him  in 
front.  A  large  number  of  his  troops  had  already  fallen,  and 
no  longer  resistance  was  possible.     Stanhope  and  the  remnant 


348  THB   Honss    of    austbia 

of  his  band  were  taken  captive  and  conducted  into  the  town 
of  Briehuga.  Staremberg,  unaware  of  the  surrender,  pushed 
on  until  he  came  within  a  league  of  Briehuga.  Anxiously  he 
threw  up  signals,  but  could  obtain  no  response.  His  fears  of 
the  worst  were  soon  confirmed  by  seeing  the  Spanish  army,  in 
brilliant  battle  array,  approaching  to  assail  him.  P>ilip  him- 
self was  there  to  animate  them  by  his  presence ;  and  the  he- 
roic French  general,  the  Duke  of  Vendome,  a  descendant  of 
Henry  IV.,  led  the  charging  columns. 

Though  the  troops  of  Staremberg  were  inferior  in  number 
to  those  of  the  Spanish  monarch,  and  greatly  fatigued  by  their 
forced  marches,  a  retreat  at  that  moment,  in  the  face  of  so  act- 
ive an  enemy,  was  not  to  be  thought  of  The  battle  imme- 
diately commenced,  with  its  rushing  squadrons  and  its  thunder 
peals.  The  Spaniards,  sanguine  of  success,  and  inspired  with 
the  intensest  hatred  of  their  heretical  foes,  charged  with  irre- 
sistible fury.  The  left  wing  of  Staremberg  was  speedily  cut 
to  pieces,  and  the  baggage  taken.  The  center  and  the  right 
maintained  their  ground  until  night  came  to  their  protection. 
Staremberg's  army  was  now  reduced  to  nine  thousand.  His 
horses  were  either  slain  or  worn  out  by  fatigue.  He  was  con- 
sequently compelled  to  abandon  all  his  artillery  and  most  of 
his  l)aggage,  as  he  again  commenced  a  rapid  retreat  towards 
Barcelona.  The  enemy  pressed  him  every  step  of  the  way. 
But  with  great  heroism  and  military  skill  he  baffled  their  en- 
deavors to  destroy  him,  and  after  one  of  the  most  arduous 
marches  on  record,  reached  Barcelona  with  a  feeble  remnant 
of  but  seven  thousand  men,  ragged,  emaciated  and  bleeding. 
Behind  the  walls  of  this  fortified  city,  and  protected  by  the 
fleet  of  England,  they  found  repose. 

We  must  now  turn  back  a  few  years,  to  trace  the  progress 
of  events  in  Hungary  and  Austria,  Joseph,  the  emperor,  had 
sufficient  intelligence  to  understand  that  the  rebellious  and  an- 
archical state  of  Hungary  was  owing  to  the  cruelty  and  in- 
tolerance of  his  father.     He  saw,  also,  that  there  could  be  no 


JOBEPH     I.     Air])    CHABLBS     VI.  S49 

iiope  of  permanent  tranquillity  but  in  paying  some  respect  to 
the  aspirations  for  civil  and  religious  liberty.  The  troubles  in 
Hungary  distracted  his  attention,  exhausted  the  energies  of 
bis  troops,  and  deprived  him  of  a  large  portion  of  his  political 
BDd  military  power.  He  now  resolved  to  try  the  effect  of  con 
eesfflons.  The  opportunity  was  propitious,  as  he  could  throw 
upon  his  father  the  blame  of  all  past  decrees.  He  accordingly 
sent  a  messenger  to  the  Hungarian  nobles  with  the  declaratioa 
that  during  his  father's  lifetime  he  had  never  interfered  in  the 
government,  and  that  consequently  he  was  in  no  respect  re- 
sponsible for  the  persecution  of  which  they  complained.  And 
he  promised,  on  the  honor  of  a  king,  that  instead  of  attempt* 
ing  the  enforcement  of  those  rigorous  decrees,  he  would  faith- 
fully fulfill  all  the  articles  he  had  sworn  to  observe  at  his  coro- 
nation ;  and  that  he  accordingly  summoned  a  diet  for  the  re* 
dress  of  their  grievances  and  the  confirmation  of  all  their 
ancient  privileges.  As  proof  of  his  sincerity,  he  dismissed  those 
ministers  who  had  advised  the  intolerant  decrees  enacted  by 
Leopold,  and  appointed  in  their  place  men  of  more  mild  and 
lenient  character. 

But  the  Hungarians,  deeming  themselves  now  in  a  position 
to  enforce  their  claims  by  the  energies  of  their  army,  feared 
to  trust  to  the  promises  of  a  court  so  often  perjured.  Without 
openly  renouncing  allegiance  to  Austria,  and  declaring  inde- 
pendence, they,  through  Ragotsky,  summoned  a  diet  to  meet 
at  Stetzim,  where  their  session  would  be  protected  by  the  Hun- 
garian army.  There  was  a  large  gathering  of  all  the  first  no- 
bility of  the  realm.  A  spacious  tent  was  spread  for  the  im- 
posing assembly,  and  the  army  encircled  it  as  with  a  sheltering 
embrace.  The  session  was  opened  with  prayer  and  the  ad- 
ministration of  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper.  Will  the 
time  ever  come  when  the  members  of  the  United  States  Con- 
gress will  meet  as  Christian  brethren,  at  the  table  of  oar  Sa- 
viour, as  they  commence  their  annna!  deliberations  for  the  wel- 
ftre  of  this  republic  ?    The  nobles  formed  a  confederacy  foi 


0M  THE      HOUSK     OF     AUSTBIA. 

the  government  of  the  country.  The  legislative  power  wa» 
committed  to  a  senate  of  twenty-four  nobles.  Ragotsky  was 
chosen  military  chief^  with  the  title  of  Dux,  or  leader.  Four 
of  the  most  illustrious  nobles  raised  Ragotsky  upon  a  buckler 
on  their  shoulders,  when  he  took  the  oath  oi  ■  fidelity  to  the 
government  thus  provisionally  established,  and  then  adminis- 
tered the  oath  to  his  confederates.  They  all  bound  themselves 
solemnly  not  to  conclude  any  peace  with  the  emperor,  until 
their  ancient  rights,  both  civil  and  religious,  were  fully  re- 
stored. 

In  reply  to  the  advances  made  by  the  emperor,  they  re- 
turned the  very  reasonable  and  moderate  demands  that  their 
chief,  Ragotsky,  should  be  reinstated  in  his  ancestral  realms  ot 
Transylvania,  that  the  claim  of  hereditary  sovereignty  should 
be  relinquished,  and  that  there  should  be  the  restoration  of 
those  ancient  civil  and  religious  immunities  of  which  Leopold 
had  defrauded  them.  Upon  these  conditions  they  proKiised 
to  recognize  Joseph  as  their  sovereign  during  his  lifetime ; 
claiming  at  his  death  their  time-honored  right  of  choosing  his 
successor.  Joseph  would  not  listen  for  one  moment  to  these 
terms,  and  the  war  was  renewed  with  fury. 

The  Hungarian  patriots  had  seventy-five  thousand  men 
under  arms.  The  spirit  of  the  whole  nation  was  with  them, 
and  the  Austrian  troops  were  driven  from  almost  every  for- 
tress in  the  kingdom.  The  affairs  of  Joseph  seemed  to  be 
almost  desperate,  his  armies  struggling  against  overpowering 
foes  all  over  Europe,  from  the  remotest  borders  of  Transylva- 
nia to  the  frontiers  of  Portugal.  The  vicissitudes  of  war  are 
proverbial.  An  energetic,  sagacious  general,  Herbeville,  with 
great  military  sagacity,  and  aided  by  a  peculiar  series  of  f!)r- 
tunate  events,  marched  down  the  valley  of  the  Danube  to 
Buda ;  crossed  the  stream  to  Pesth  ;  pushed  boldly  on  through 
the  heart  of  Hungary  to  Great  Waradin,  forced  the  defiles  of 
the  mountains,  and  entered  Transylvania.  Through  a  series 
of  brilliant  victories  he  took  fortress  after  fortress,  until  he 


wOSEPH      I.     AND     CHARLKB     VI.  351 

fobjugated  the  whole  of  Transylvania,  and  brought  it  again 
mto  subjection  to  the  Austrian  crown.  This  was  in  Novem- 
t)€r,  1706. 

But  the  Hungarians,  instead  of  being  intimidated  by  the 
success  of  the  imperial  arms,  summoned  another  diet.  It  was 
aeld  in  the  open  field  in  accordance  with  ancient  custom,  and 
was  thronged  by  thousands  from  all  parts  of  the  kingdom. 
With  great  enthusiasm  and  public  acclaim  the  resolution  was 
passed  that  Joseph  was  a  tyrant  and  a  usurper,  animated  by 
the  hereditary  despotism  of  the  Austrian  family.  This  truth- 
ful utterance  roused  anew  the  ire  of  the  emperor.  He  re- 
solved upon  a  desperate  effort  to  bring  Hungary  into  subjec- 
tion. Leaving  his  English  and  Dutch  allies  to  meet  the  brunt 
of  the  battle  on  the  Rhine  and  in  the  Netherlands,  he  recalled 
his  best  troops,  and  made  forced  levies  in  Austria  until  he  had 
created  an  army  sufficiently  strong,  as  he  thought,  to  sweep 
down  all  opposition.  These  troops  he  placed  under  the  most 
experienced  generals,  and  sent  them  into  Hungary  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1708.  Fiance,  weakened  by  repeated  defeats,  could 
send  the  Hungarians  no  aid,  and  the  imperial  troops,  through 
bloody  battles,  victoriously  traversed  the  kingdom.  Every- 
where the  Hungarians  were  routed  and  dispersed,  until  no 
semblance  of  an  army  was  left  to  oppose  the  victors.  It  seems 
that  life  in  those  days,  to  the  masses  of  the  people,  swept  m- 
oessantly  by  these  fiery  surges  of  war,  could  only  have  been  a 
scene,  from  the  cradle  to  the  grave,  of  blood  and  agony.  For 
two  years  this  dismal  storm  of  battle  howled  over  all  the  Hun- 
garian plains,  and  then  the  kingdom,  like  a  victim  exhausted, 
prostrate  and  bleeding,  was  taken  captive  and  firmly  bound. 

Ragotsky,  denounced  with  the  penalty  of  high  treason,  es- 
caped to  Poland.  The  emperor,  anxious  no  longer  to  exasper- 
ate, proposed  measures  of  unusual  moderation.  He  assembled 
a  convention ;  promised  a  general  amnesty  for  all  political 
offenses,  the  restitution  of  confiscated  property,  the  liberation 
of  prisoners,  and  the  confirmation  of  all  the  rights  which  h« 


352  THB     HOUSE     OF     AFSTBIA. 

had  promised  at  bis  corouatiou.  Some  important  points  were 
not  touched  upon ;  others  wei'e  passed  over  in  vague  and  gen- 
eral terms.  The  Hungarians,  helpless  as  a  babe,  had  nothing 
to  do  but  to  submit,  whatever  the  terms  might  be.  They  were 
surprised  at  the  unprecedented  lenity  of  the  conqueror,  and 
the  treaty  of  peace  and  subjection  was  signed  'n  January, 
IVll. 

In  three  months  after  the  signing  of  this  treaty,  Joseph  I. 
died  of  the  small-pox,  in  his  palace  of  Vienna.  He  was  but 
thirty-three  years  of  age.  For  a  sovereign  educated  from  the 
cradle  to  despotic  rule,  and  instructed  by  one  of  the  most  big- 
oted of  fathers,  he  was  an  unusually  good  man,  and  must  be 
regarded  as  one  of  the  best  sovereigns  who  have  swayed  the 
scepter  of  Austrian  despotism. 

The  law  of  hereditary  descent  is  frequently  involved  in 
great  embarrassment.  Leopold,  to  obviate  disputes  which  he 
foresaw  were  likely  to  arise,  had  assigned  Hungary,  Bohemia, 
and  his  other  hereditary  estates,  to  Joseph.  To  Charles  he 
had  assigned  the  vast  Spanish  inheritance.  In  case  Joseph 
should  die  without  male  issue  he  had  decreed  that  the  crown 
of  the  Austrian  dominions  should  also  pass  to  Charles.  In 
case  Charles  should  also  die  without  issue  male,  the  crown 
should  then  revert  to  the  daughters  of  Joseph  in  preference  to 
those  of  Charles.  Joseph  left  no  son.  He  had  two  daugh- 
ters, the  eldest  of  whom  was  but  twelve  years  of  age.  Charles, 
who  was  now  in  Barcelona,  claiming  the  crown  of  Spain  as 
Charles  III.,  had  no  Spanish  blood  in  his  veins.  He  was  the 
son  of  Leopold,  and  of  his  third  wife,  the  devout  and  lovely 
Eleonora,  daughter  of  the  Elector  Palatine.  He  was  now  but 
twenty-eight  years  of  age.  For  ten  years  he  had  been  strug- 
gling for  the  crown  which  his  father  Leopold  had  claimed,  as 
succeeding  to  the  rights  of  his  first  wife  Margaret,  daughtei 
of  Philip  IV. 

Charles  was  a  genteel,  accomplished  young  man  of  eighteen 
when  he  left  his  father's  palace  at  Vienna,  for  England,  wher* 


JOSEPH     I.      AND     CUAELES     VI.  363 

a  British  fleet  was  to  convey  him  to  Portugal,  and,  by  ttie  en- 
ergy of  its  fleet  and  army,  place  him  upon  the  throne  of  Spain, 
He  was  received  at  Portsmouth  in  England,  when  he  landed 
from  Holland,  with  much  parade,  and  was  conducted  by  the 
Dukes  of  Marlborough  and  Somerset  to  Windsor  castle,  where 
he  had  an  interview  with  Queen  Anne.  His  appearance  at  that 
time  is  thus  described  by  his  partial  chroniclers : 

"  The  court  was  very  splendid  and  much  thronged.  The 
queen's  behavior  toward  him  was  very  noble  and  obliging. 
The  young  king  charmed  all  who  were  present.  He  had  a 
gravity  beyond  his  age,  tempered  with  much  modesty.  His 
behavior  in  all  points  was  so  exact,  that  there  was  not  a  cir- 
cumstance in  his  whole  deportment  which  was  liable  to  cen- 
sure. He  paid  an  extraordinary  respect  to  the  queen,  and  yet 
maintained  a  due  greatness  in  it.  He  had  the  art  of  seeming 
well  pleased  with  every  thing,  without  so  much  as  smiling 
once  all  the  while  he  was  at  court,  which  was  only  three  days. 
He  spoke  but  Uttle,  and  all  he  said  was  judicious  and  oblig- 
ing." 

Young  Charles  was  engaged  to  the  daughter  of  the  King 
of  Portugal ;  but  the  young  lady  died  just  before  his  arrival 
at  Lisbon.  As  he  had  never  seen  the  infanta,  his  grief  could 
not  have  been  very  deep,  however  great  his  disappointment 
might  have  been.  He  made  several  attempts  to  penetrate 
Spain  by  the  Portuguese  frontier,  but  being  repelled  in  every 
eflbrt,  by  the  troops  of  Philip,  he  again  embarked,  and  with 
twelve  thousand  troops  in  an  English  fleet,  sailed  around  th«> 
Peninsula,  entered  the  Mediterranean  and  landed  on  the  shores 
of  Catalonia,  where  he  had  been  led  to  believe  that  the  inhabi- 
tants in  a  body  would  rally  around  him.  But  he  was  bitterly 
disappointed.  The  Earl  of  Peterborough,  who  was  intrusted 
with  the  command  of  this  expedition,  in  a  letter  home  gave 
free  utterance  to  his  disappointment  and  chagrin. 

"  Instead  of  ten  thousand  men,  and  in  arms,"  he  wrote, 
"to  cover  our-  landing  and  strengthen  our  camp,  we  found 


d54  THE     HOUSE     OF     AU8TEIA. 

only  80  many  higglers  and  sutlers  flocking  into  it.  Instead 
of  finding  Barcelona  in  a  weak  condition,  and  ready  to  surren- 
der upon  the  first  appearance  of  our  troops,  we  found  a  strong 
garrison  to  oppose  us,  and  a  hostile  array  almost  equal  to  oar 
own." 

In  this  dilemma  a  council  of  war  was  held,  and  though 
many  were  in  favor  of  abandoning  the  enterprise  and  returning 
to  Portugal,  it  was  at  last  determined,  through  the  urgency  of 
Charles,  to  remain  and  lay  siege  to  the  city.  Barcelona,  the 
capital  of  Catalonia,  was  then  the  principal  sea-port  of  the 
Spanish  peninsula  on  the  Mediterranean.  It  contained  a  pop- 
ulation of  about  one  hundred  and  forty  thousanl.  It  was 
strongly  fortified.  West  of  the  city  there  was  a  mountain 
called  Montjoy,  upon  which  there  was  a  strong  fort  which 
commanded  the  harbor  and  the  town.  After  a  short  siege  this 
fort  was  taken  by  storm,  and  the  city  was  then  forced  to  sur- 
render. 

Philip  soon  advanced  with  an  army  of  French  and  Span- 
iards to  retake  the  city.  The  English  fleet  had  retired. 
Twenty-eight  French  ships  of  war  blockaded  the  harbor, 
which  they  could  not  enter,  as  it  was  commanded  by  the 
guns  of  Montjoy.  The  siege  was  very  desperate  both  in  the 
assault  and  the  defense.  The  young  king,  Charles,  was  in  the 
most  imminent  danger  of  falling  into  the  hands  of  his  foes. 
There  was  no  possibility  of  escape,  and  it  seemed  inevitable 
that  the  city  must  either  surrender,  or  be  taken  by  storm. 
The  French  and  Spanish-  army  numbered  twenty  thousand 
men.  They  first  attempted  to  storm  Montjoy,  but  were 
repulsed  with  great  slaughter.  They  then  besieged  it,  and 
by  regular  approaches  compelled  its  capitulation  in  three 
weeks. 

This  noble  resistance  enabled  the  troops  in  the  city  great- 
ly to  multiply  and  increase  their  defenses.  They  thus  8U& 
ceeded  in  protracting  the  siege  of  the  town  five  weeks  longer. 
Every  day  the  beleagured  troops  from  the  crumbling  ram- 


JOSKPH      I.     AND      CHABLKS     VI.  355 

parts  watched  the  blue  expanse  of  the  Mediterranean,  hoping 
to  see  the  sails  of  an  English  fleet  coming  to  their  rescue. 
Two  breaches  were  already  efiected  in  the  walls.  The  gar- 
rison, reduced  to  two  thousand,  and  exhausted  by  superhuman 
exertions  by  day  and  by  night,  were  almost  in  the  last  stages 
of  despair,  when,  in  the  distant  horizon,  the  long  looked-for 
fleet  appeared.  The  French  ships,  by  no  means  able  to  cope 
with  such  a  force,  spread  their  sails,  and  sought  safety  in 
flight. 

The  English  fleet,  amounting  to  fifty  sail  of  the  line,  and 
transporting  a  large  number  of  land  troops,  triumphantly 
entered  the  harbor  on  the  3rd  of  May,  1706.  The  fresh 
soldiers  were  speedily  landed,  and  marched  to  the  ramparts 
and  the  breaches.  This  strong  reinforcement  annihilated  the 
hopes  of  the  besiegers.  Apprehensive  of  an  immediate  sally, 
they  retreated  with  such  precipitation  that  they  left  behind 
them  in  the  hospitals  their  sick  and  wounded ;  they  also 
abandoned  their  heavy  artillery,  and  an  immense  quantity  of 
military  stores. 

Whatever  energy  Charles  might  have  shown  during  the 
siege,  all  seemed  now  to  evaporate.  When  the  shot  of  the  foe 
were  crumbling  the  walls  of  Barcelona,  he  was  in  danger  of 
the  terrible  doom  of  being  taken  a  captive,  which  would  have 
been  the  annihilation  of  all  his  hopes.  Despair  nerved  him  to 
eflfbrt.  But  now  his  person  was  no  longer  in  danger;  and 
his  natural  inefficiency  and  dilatoriness  returned,  Notwith- 
standing the  urgent  intreaties  of  the  Earl  of  Peterborough 
to  pursue  the  foe,  he  insisted  upon  first  making  a  pilgrimage 
to  the  shrine  of  the  holy  Virgin  at  Moiitserrat,  twenty-four 
iniles  from  Barcelona. 

This  curious  monastery  consists  of  but  a  succession  of 
cloisters  or  hermitages  hewn  out  of  the  solid  rock.  They  are 
only  accessible  by  steps  as  steep  as  a  ladder,  which  are  also 
hewn  upon  the  face  of  the  almost  precipitous  mountain.  The 
highest  of  these  cells,  and  which  are  occupied  by  the  youngest 


356  THE     HOUSE     OF     AUSTKIA. 

monks,  are  at  au  elevation  of  three  or  four  thousand  feet  above 
the  level  of  the  Mediterranean.  Soon  after  Charles's  pilgrim- 
age to  Montserrat,  he  made  a  triumphal  maich  to  Madrid, 
entered  the  city,  and  caused  himself  to  be  proclaimed  king 
under  the  title  of  Charles  III.  But  Philip  soon  came  upon  him 
with  such  force  that  he  was  compelled  to  retreat  back  to 
Barcelona.  Again,  in  1710,  he  succeeded  in  reaching  Madrid, 
and,  as  we  have  described,  he  was  driven  back,  with  accimiu* 
lated  disaster,  to  Catalonia. 

ITiree  months  after  this  defeat,  when  his  affairs  in  Spaii 
were  assuming  the  gloomiest  aspect,  a  courier  arrived  at  Bar 
celona,  and  informed  him  that  his  brother  Joseph  was  dead; 
that  he  had  already  been  proclaimed  King  of  Hungary  and  Bo- 
hemia, and  Archduke  of  Austria ;  and  that  it  was  a  matter  of 
the  most  urgent  necessity  that  he  should  immediately  return 
to  Germany.  Charles  immediately  embarked  at  Barcelona, 
and  landed  near  Genoa  on  the  27th  of  September.  Rapidly 
pressing  on  through  the  Italian  States,  he  entered  Milan  on 
the  16th  of  October,  where  he  was  greeted  with  the  joyful 
intelligence  that  a  diet  had  been  convened  under  the  influence 
of  Prince  Eugene,  and  that  by  its  unanimous  vote  he  was  in- 
vested with  the  imperial  throne.  He  immediately  proceeded 
through  the  Tyrol  to  Frankfort,  where  he  was  crowned  on 
the  22d  of  December.  He  was  now  more  than  ever  deter- 
mined that  the  diadem  of  Spain  should  be  added  to  the  other 
crowns  which  had  been  placed  upon  his  brow. 

In  the  incessant  wars  which  for  centuries  had  been  waged 
between  the  princes  and  States  of  Germany  and  the  emperor, 
the  States  had  acquired  virtually  a  constitution,  which  they 
called  a  capitulation.  When  Charles  was  crowned  as  Charles 
VI.,  he  was  obliged  to  promise  that  he  would  never  assemble 
a  diet  or  council  without  convening  all  the  princes  and  States 
of  the  empire ;  that  he  would  never  wage  war,  or  conclude 
peace,  or  enter  into  alliance  with  any  nation  without  the  con- 
sent of  the  States;   that  he  would  not,  of  his  own  authority. 


JOSEPH      I.     AND     CHAELK8      VI,  857 

put  any  prince  under  the  ban  of  the  empire  ;  that  confiscated 
territory  should  never  be  conferred  upon  any  members  of  hia 
own  family,  and  that  no  successor  to  the  imperial  crown  should 
be  chosen  during  his  lifetime,  unless  absence  from  Germany 
or  the  infirmities  of  age  rendered  him  incapable  of  administer- 
ing the  affairs  of  the  empire. 

The  emperor,  invested  with  the  imperial  crown,  hastened 
to  Vienna,  and,  with  unexpected  energy,  entered  upon  the 
administration  of  the  complicated  interests  of  his  wide-spread 
realms.  After  passing  a  few  weeks  in  Vienna,  he  repaired  to 
Prague,  where,  in  May,  he  was,  with  much  pomp,  crowned 
King  of  Hungary.  He  then  returned  to  Vienna,  and  pre- 
pared to  press  with  new  vigor  the  war  of  the  Spanish  suc- 
cession. 

Louis  XIV.  was  now  suffering  the  earthly  retribution  for 
his  ill-spent  life.  The  finances  of  the  realm  were  in  a  state  of 
hopeless  embarrassment ;  famine  was  filling  the  kingdom  with 
misery  ;  his  armies  were  everywheie  defeated  ;  the  impreca- 
tions of  a  beggared  people  were  rising  around  his  throne; 
his  palace  was  the  scene  of  incessant  feuds  and  intrigues.  Hia 
children  were  dead ;  he  was  old,  infirm,  sick,  the  victim  of  in- 
supportable melancholy — utterly  weary  of  life,  and  yet  awfully 
afraid  to  die.  France,  in  the  person  of  Louis  XIV.,  who 
could  justly  say,  "  I  am  the  State,"  was  humbled. 

The  accession  of  Charles  to  the  throne  of  the  empire,  and 
to  that  of  Austria,  Hungary  and  Bohemia,  while  at  the  same 
time  he  claimed  sovereignty  over  the  vast  realms  of  the  Span- 
ish kingdom,  invested  him  with  such  enormous  power,  that 
England,  which  had  combined  Europe  against  the  colossal 
growth  of  France,  having  humbled  that  power,  was  disposed 
to  form  a  combination  against  Austria.  There  was  in  conse- 
quence an  immediate  relaxation  of  hostilities  just  at  the  time 
when  the  French  batteries  on  the  frontiers  were  battered  down, 
and  when  the  allied  army  had  apparently  an  unobstructed  way 
opened  to  the  gates  of  Paris.     In  this  state  of  affairs  the  Brit 


858  THE     HOUSE     OF     AUSTRIA. 

ish  ministry  pressed  negotiations  for  peace.  The  prelimina- 
ries were  settled  in  London  on  the  8th  of  October,  1711.  By 
this  treaty  Louis  XIV.  agreed  to  make  such  a  change  in  the 
law  of  hereditary  descent,  as  to  render  it  impossible  for  any 
king  to  wear  at  the  same  time  the  crowns  of  France  and  of 
Spain,  and  made  various  other  important  concessions. 

Charles,  whose  ambition  was  roused  by  his  sudden  and  un 
expected  elevation,  exerted  ^,Ii  his  energies  to  thwart  the  prog 
ress  of  negotiations,  and  bitterly  complained  that  the  allies 
were  dishonorably  deserting  the  cause  which  they  had  es- 
poused. The  emperor  dispatched  circular  letters  to  all  the 
courts  of  Europe,  and  sent  Prince  Eugene  as  a  special  ambas- 
sador to  London,  to  influence  Queen  Anne,  if  possible,  to  per- 
severe in  the  grand  alliance.  But  he  was  entirely  unsuccessfuL 
The  Duke  of  Marlborough  was  disgraced,  and  dismissed  from 
office.  The  peace  party  rendered  Eugene  so  unpopular  that 
he  was  insulted  in  the  streets  of  London.  The  Austiiau  party 
in  England  was  utterly  defeated,  and  a  congress  was  appointed 
to  meet  at  Utrecht  to  settle  the  terms  of  peace.  But  Charles 
was  now  so  powerful  that  he  resolved  to  prosecute  the  war 
even  though  abandoned  by  England.  He  accordingly  sent  an 
ambassador  to  Utrecht  to  embarrass  the  proceedings  as  much 
as  possible,  and,  in  case  the  grand  alliance  should  be  broken 
up,  to  secure  as  many  powers  as  possible  in  fidelity  to  Aus- 
tria. 

The  States  of  the  Netherlands  were  still  warmly  with  Aus- 
tria, as  they  dreaded  so  formidable  a  power  as  France  direct- 
ly upon  their  frontier.  The  other  minor  powers  of  the  aUiance 
were  also  rather  inclined  to  remain  with  Austria.  The  war 
continued  while  the  terms  of  peace  were  under  discussion. 
England,  however,  entered  into  a  private  understanding  with 
France,  and  the  Duke  of  Ormond,  who  had  succeeded  Marl- 
borough, received  secret  orders  not  to  take  part  in  any  battle 
or  siege.  The  developments,  upon  fields  of  battle,  of  this  dis- 
honorable arrangement,  caused  great  indignation  on  the  part 


JOSEPH      1.     AWD     CHARLES     VI.  359 

of  the  allies.  The  British  forces  withdrew,  and  the  French 
armies,  taking  advantage  of  the  great  embarrassments  thus 
caused,  were  again  gaining  the  ascendency.  Portugal  soon 
followed  the  example  of  England  and  abandoned  the  alliance. 
The  Duke  of  Savoy  was  the  next  to  leave.  The  alliance 
was  evidently  crumbling  to  pieces,  and  on  the  11th  of  April, 
1713,  all  the  belligerents,  excepting  the  emperor,  signed  the 
treaty  of  peace.  Philip  of  Spain  also  acceded  to  the  same 
articles. 

Charles  was  very  indignant  in  being  thus  abandoned  ;  and 
unduly  estimating  his  strength,  resolved  alone,  with  the  re- 
jources  which  the  empire  afforded  him,  to  prosecute  the  war 
against  France  and  Spain.  Having  nothing  to  fear  from  a 
Spanish  invasion,  he  for  a  time  relinquished  his  attempts  upon 
Spain,  and  concentrating  his  armies  upon  the  Rhine,  prepared 
for  a  desperate  onset  upon  France.  For  two  years  the  war 
raged  between  Austria  and  France  vrith  war*s  usual  vicissi- 
tudes of  defeat  and  victory  on  either  side.  It  was  soon  evi- 
dent that  the  combatants  were  too  equally  matched  for  either 
party  to  hope  to  gain  any  decisive  advantage  over  the  other. 
On  the  7th  of  September,  1714,  France  and  Austria  agreed  to 
sheathe  the  sword.  The  war  had  raged  for  fourteen  years, 
with  an  expenditure  of  blood  and  treasure,  and  an  accumula- 
tion of  misery  which  never  can  be  guaged.  Every  party  had 
lost  fourfold  more  than  it  had  gained.  "  A  war,"  says  Mar- 
shal Villers,  "  which  had  desolated  the  greater  part  of  Europe, 
was  concluded  almost  on  the  very  terms  which  might  have 
been  procured  at  the  commencement  of  hostilities." 

By  this  treaty  of  peace,  which  was  signed  at  Baden,  in 
Switzerland,  the  States  of  the  Netherlands  were  left  in  the 
hands  of  Austria ;  and  also  the  Italian  States  of  Naples,  Milan, 
Mantua  and  Sardinia.  The  thunders  of  artillery  had  hardly 
ceased  to  reverberate  over  the  marshes  of  Holland  and  along 
the  banks  of  the  Rhine,  ere  the  "  blast  of  war's  loud  organ" 
and  the  tramp  of  charging  squadrons  were  heard  rising  anew 


S60  THE      HOUSE      OF      AUSTKIA. 

from  the  distant  mouutains  of  Sclavouia.  The  Turks,  in  vio- 
lation of  tlieir  treaty  of  peace,  were  agaiu  on  the  march,  as- 
cending the  Danube  along  its  southern  banks,  through  the 
defiles  of  the  Sclavonian  mountains.  In  a  motley  mass  of  one 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  men  they  had  passed  Belgrade, 
crossed  the  Save,  and  were  approaching  Peterwarden. 

Eugene  was  instantly  dispatched  with  an  eflScient,  compact 
army,  disciplined  by  twelve  years  of  warfare,  to  resist  the  Mos- 
lem invaders.  The  hostile  battaUonfa  met  at  Karlowitz,  but  a 
few  miles  from  Peterwarden,  on  the  5th  of  August,  1716.  The 
tempest  blazed  with  terrific  fury  for  a  few  hours,  when  the 
Turkish  host  turned  and  fled.  Thirty  thousand  of  their  num- 
ber, including  the  grand  vizier  who  led  the  host,  were  left  dead 
upon  the  field.  In  their  utter  discomfiture  they  abandoned 
two  hundred  and  fifty  pieces  of  heavy  artillery,  and  baggage, 
tents  and  military  stores  to  an  immense  amount.  Fifty  Turk- 
ish banners  embellished  the  camp  of  the  victors. 

And  now  Eugene  led  his  triumphant  troops,  sixty  thousand 
in  number,  down  the  river  to  lay  siege  to  Belgrade.  This  for- 
tress, which  the  labor  of  ages  had  strengthened,  was  garrisoned 
by  thirty  thousand  troops,  and  was  deemed  almost  impregna- 
ble. Eugene  invested  the  place  and  commenced  the  slow  and 
tedious  operations  of  a  siege.  The  sultan  immediately  dis- 
patched an  army  of  two  hundred  thousand  men  to  the  relief 
of  his  beleaguered  fortress.  The  Turks,  arriving  at  the  scene 
of  action,  did  not  venture  an  assault  upon  their  intrenched 
foes,  but  intrenched  themselves  on  heights,  outside  of  the  be- 
aieging  camp,  in  a  semicircle  extending  from  the  Danube  to 
the  Save.  They  thus  shut  up  the  besiegers  in  the  miasmatic 
marshes  which  surrounded  the  city,  cut  off  their  supplies  of 
provisions,  and  from  their  advancing  batteries  threw  shot  into 
the  Austrian  camp.  "  A  man,"  said  Napoleon,  "  is  not  a  sol- 
dier." The  Turks  had  two  hundred  thousand  men  in  their  camp, 
raw  recruits.  Eugene  had  sixty  thousand  veteran  soldiers. 
He  decided  to  drive  off  the  Turks  who  annoyed  him.     It  wa« 


JOSEPH      I.      AND     CHAKLES     VI.  362 

necessary  for  him  to  detach  twenty  thousand  to  hold  m  check 
the  garrison  of  Belgrade,  who  might  sally  to  the  relief  of  their 
companions.  This  left  him  but  forty  thousand  troops  with 
whom  to  assail  two  hundred  thousand  strongly  intrenched, 
He  did  not  hesitate  in  the  undertaking. 


CHAPTER     XXIII. 

0HARLE8     VI. 
Feom  1716  TO  1727. 

OiKOio  Dboision  of  Ecobnb. — Battle  o?  Belgrade. — Uttee  Boot  of  thk  Tttrkb.-  - 
Possessions  op  Chaelsb  VI. — The  Eleotoe  of  Hanovee  succeeds  to  tub  Enolibb 
Theonb. — Preparations  fob  Wae. — State  of  Italy. — Philip  V.  of  Spain. — Dip- 
lomatic Agitations. — Palace  of  St.  Ildefonso. — Oedee  of  thb  Golden  Fleece 
— Rejbotion  of  Maria  Anne. — Contest  foe  the  Bock  of  Gibbaltae. — Dismissal 
of  Bippebda. — Treaty  of  Vienna. — Pbaob  concluded. 

THE  enterprise  upon  which  Eugene  had  resolved  was  bold 
in  the  extreme.  It  could  only  be  accomplished  by  con 
Bummate  bravery  aided  by  equal  military  skill.  The  foe  they 
were  to  attack  were  five  to  one,  and  were  protected  by  well- 
constructed  redoubts,  armed  with  the  most  formidable  bat- 
teries. They  were  also  abundantly  supplied  with  cavalry,  and 
the  Turkish  cavalry  were  esteemed  the  finest  horsemen  in  the 
world.  There  was  but  one  circumstance  in  favor  of  Eugene. 
The  Turks  did  not  dream  that  he  would  have  the  audacity  to 
march  from  the  protection  of  his  intrenchmeuts  and  assail  them 
behind  their  own  strong  ramparts.  There  was  consequently 
but  little  difficulty  in  effecting  a  surprise. 

All  the  arrangements  were  made  with  the  utmost  precision 
and  secrecy  for  a  midnight  attack.  The  favorable  hour  came. 
The  sun  went  down  in  clouds,  and  a  night  of  Egyptian  dark- 
ness enveloped  the  armies.  The  glimmer  of  innumerable 
camp-fires  only  pointed  out  the  position  of  the  foe,  without 
throwing  any  illumination  upon  the  field.  Eugene  visited  all 
the  posts  of  the  army,  ordered  abundant  refreshment  to  be 
distributed  to   the  troops,  addressed   them   in   encouraging 


CHARLES     YI.  863 

words,  to  impress  upon  them  the  importance  of  the  enterprise, 
and  minutely  assigned  to  each  battalion,  regiment,  brigade 
and  division  its  duty,  that  there  might  be  no  confusion.  The 
whole  plan  was  carefully  aiTanged  in  all  its  details  aud  in  all 
its  grand  combination.  As  the  bells  of  Belgrade  tolled  the 
hour  of  twelve  at  midnight,  three  bombs,  simultaneously  dis- 
charged, put  the  whole  Austrian  army  in  rapid  and  noiseless 
motion. 

A  dense  fog  had  now  descended,  through  which  they  could 
with  difficulty  discern  the  twinkling  lights  of  the  Turkish 
camp.  Rapidly  they  traversed  the  inter\'euing  space,  and  in 
dense,  solid  columns,  rushed  over  the  ramparts  of  the  foe. 
Bombs,  cannon,  musketry,  bayonets,  cavalry,  all  were  em- 
ployed, amidst  the  thunderings  and  the  lightnings  of  that  mid- 
night storm  of  war,  in  the  work  of  destruction.  The  Turks, 
roused  from  their  slumber,  amazed,  bewildered,  fought  for  a 
short  time  with  maniacal  fury,  often  pouring  volleys  of  bullets 
into  the  bosoms  of  their  friends,  and  with  bloody  cimetera 
smiting  indiscriminately  on  the  right  hand  and  the  left,  till,  in 
the  midst  of  a  scene  of  confusion  and  horror  which  no  imagi- 
nation can  conceive,  they  broke  and  fled.  Two  hundred  thou- 
sand men,  lighted  only  by  the  flash  of  guns  which  mowed  their 
ranks,  with  thousands  of  panic-stricken  cavalry  trampling  over 
them,  while  the  crash  of  musketry,  the  explosions  of  artillery, 
the  shouts  of  the  assailants  and  the  fugitives,  and  the  shrieks 
of  the  dying,  blended  in  a  roar  more  appalling  than  heaven's 
heaviest  thunders,  presented  a  scene  which  has  few  parallels 
even  in  the  horrid  annals  of  war. 

The  morning  dawned  upon  a  field  of  blood  and  death.  The 
victory  of  the  Austrians  was  most  decisive.  The  flower  of  the 
Turkish  army  was  cut  to  pieces,  and  the  remnant  was  utterly 
dispersed.  The  Turkish  camp,  with  all  its  abundant  booty  of 
tents,  pro\  iaions,  ammunition  and  artillery,  fell  into  the  hand* 
of  the  conqueror.  So  signal  was  the  victory,  that  the  dis- 
heartened Turks  made  no  attempt  to  retrieve  their  loss.    Bet 


564  THE     HOUSE     OF     AUSTRIA. 

grade  was  surrendered  to  the  Austrians,  and  the  sultan  im 
plored  peace.  The  articles  were  signed  in  Passarovitz,  a  small 
town  of  Servia,  in  July,  1718.  By  this  treaty  the  emperor 
added  Belgrade  to  his  dominions,  and  also  a  large  part  of 
Wallachia  and  Servia. 

Austria  and  Spain  were  still  in  lieart  at  war,  as  the  em. 
peror  claimed  the  crown  of  Spain,  and  was  only  delaying  act- 
fve  hostilities  until  he  could  dispose  of  his  more  immediate  foes. 
Charles,  soon  after  the  death  of  his  cousin,  the  Portuguese 
princess,  with  whom  he  had  formed  a  matrimonial  engagement, 
married  Elizabeth  Christina,  a  princess  of  Brunswick.  The 
imperial  family  now  consisted  of  three  daughters,  Maria  The- 
resa, Maria  Anne  and  Maria  Am  ^I'a.  It  will  be  remembered 
that  by  the  family  compact  established  by  Leopold,  the  suc- 
cession was  entailed  upon  Charles  in  preference  to  the  daugh- 
ters of  Joseph,  in  case  Joseph  should  die  without  male  issue. 
But  should  Charles  die  without  male  issue,  the  crown  was  to 
revei't  to  the  daughters  of  Joseph  in  preference  to  those  of 
Charles.  The  emperor,  having  three  daughters  and  no  sons, 
with  natural  parental  partiality,  but  unjustly,  and  with  great 
want  of  magnanimity,  was  anxious  to  deprive  the  daughters  of 
Joseph  of  their  rights,  that  he  might  secure  the  crown  for  his  own 
daughters.  He  accordingly  issued  a  decree  reversing  this  con- 
tract, and  settling  the  right  of  succession  first  upon  his  daugh- 
ters, should  he  die  without  sons,  then  upon  the  daughters  of 
Joseph,  one  of  whom  had  married  the  Elector  of  Saxony  and 
the  other  the  Elector  of  Bavaria.  After  them  he  declared  his 
sister,  who  had  married  the  King  of  Portugal,  and  then  his 
other  sisters,  the  daughters  of  Leopold,  to  be  in  the  line  of 
succession.  This  new  law  of  succession  Charles  issued  under 
the  name  of  the  Pragmatic  Sanction.  He  compelled  his  nieces, 
the  daughters  of  Joseph,  to  give  their  assent  to  this  Sanction, 
and  then,  for  the  remainder  of  his  reign,  made  the  greatest  ef 
forts  to  induce  all  the  powers  of  Europe  to  acknowledge  ita 
validity. 


CHARLS3     TI.  365 

Charles  VI.  was  now,  as  to  the  extent  of  territory  ovei 
which  he  reigned  and  the  population  subject  to  his  sway,  de- 
cidedly the  most  powerful  monarch  in  Christendom,  Three 
hundred  princes  of  the  German  empire  acknowledged  him  aa 
their  elected  sovereign.  By  hereditary  right  he  claimed  do- 
minion over  Bohemia,  Hungary,  Transylvania,  Wallachia,  Ser- 
via,  Styria,  Caiinthia,  Carniola,  the  Tyrol,  and  all  the  rich  and 
populous  States  of  the  Netherlands.  Naples,  Sicily,  Mantua 
and  JVIilan  in  Italy,  also  recognized  his  sovereignty.  To  en- 
lightened reason  nothing  can  seem  more  absurd  than  that  one 
man,  of  very  moderate  capacities,  luxuriating  in  his  palace  at 
Vienna,  should  pretend  to  hold  dominion  over  so  many  mil- 
lions so  widely  disjjersed.  But  the  progress  of  the  world  to- 
wards intelligent  liberty  has  been  very  slow.  When  we  con- 
trast the  constitution  of  the  United  States  with  such  a  political 
condition,  all  our  evils  and  difficulties  dwindle  to  utter  insig- 
nificance. 

Still  the  power  of  the  emperor  was  in  many  respects  ap- 
parent rather  than  real.  Each  of  these  States  had  its  own 
customs  and  laws.  The  nobles  were  tumultuary,  and  ever 
ready,  if  their  privileges  were  infringed,  to  rise  in  insur- 
rection. Military  force  alone  could  hold  these  turbulent 
realms  in  awe ;  and  the  old  feudal  servitude  which  crushed 
the  millions,  was  but  another  name  for  anarchy.  The  peace 
establishment  of  the  emperor  amounted  to  one  hundred  thou- 
sand  men,  and  every  one  of  these  was  necessary  simply  to  gar- 
rison his  fortresses.  The  enormous  expense  of  the  support  ot 
such  an  army,  with  all  the  outlays  for  the  materiel  of  war,  the 
cavalry,  and  the  structure  of  vast  fortresses,  exhausted  the 
revenues  of  a  kingdom  in  which  the  masses  of  the  people 
were  so  miserably  poor  that  they  were  scarcely  elevated 
above  the  beasts  of  the  field,  and  where  the  finances  had  long 
been  in  almost  irreparable  disorder.  The  years  of  peace,  how- 
ever, were  very  few.  War,  a  maelstrom  which  ingults  un 
counted  millions,  seems  to  have  been  the  normal  state  of  Ger 


366  THE     HOUSE     OP     AUSTRIA 

many.  But  the  treasury  of  Charles  was  so  constantly  drained 
that  he  could  never,  even  in  his  greatest  straits,  raise  more 
than  one  hundred  and  sixty  thousand  men  ;  and  he  was  often 
compelled  to  call  upon  the  aid  of  a  foreign  purse  to  meet  the 
expense  which  that  number  involved.  Within  a  hundred 
years  the  nations  have  made  vast  strides  in  wealth,  and  in  the 
consequent  ability  to  throw  away  millions  in  war. 

Charles  VI.  commenced  his  reign  with  intense  devotion  to 
business.  He  resolved  to  be  an  illustrious  emperor,  vigor- 
ously superintending  all  the  interests  of  the  empire,  legislative, 
judicial  and  executive.  For  a  few  weeks  he  was  busy  night 
and  day,  buried  in  a  hopeless  mass  of  diplomatic  papers.  But 
he  soon  became  weary  of  this,  and  ''^aving  all  the  ordinary 
affairs  of  the  State  in  the  hands  of  agents,  amused  himself 
with  his  violin  and  in  chasing  rabbits.  As  more  serious 
employment,  he  gave  pompous  receptions,  and  enveloped 
himself  in  imperial  ceremony  and  the  most  approved  courtly 
etiquette.  He  still,  however,  insisted  u]3on  giving  his  ap- 
proval to  all  measures  adopted  by  his  ministers,  before  they 
were  carried  into  execution.  But  as  he  was  too  busy  with 
his  entertainments,  his  music  and  the  chase,  to  devote  much 
time  to  the  dry  details  of  government,  papers  were  accumu- 
lating in  a  mountainous  heap  in  his  cabinet,  and  the  most 
impoitant  business  was  neglected. 

Charles  XII.  was  now  King  of  Sweden ;  Peter  the  Great, 
Emperor  of  Russia ;  George  I.,  King  of  England ;  and  the 
shameful  regency  had  succeeded,  in  France,  the  reign  of 
Louis  XIV.  For  eighteen  years  a  bloody  war  had  been 
sweeping  the  plains  of  Poland,  Russia  and  Sweden.  Thou- 
sands had  been  torn  to  pieces  by  the  enginery  of  war,  and 
trampled  beneath  iron  hoofs.  Millions  of  women  and  children 
had  been  impoverished,  beggared,  and  turned  out  houseless 
into  the  fields  to  moan  and  starve  and  die.  The  claims  of 
humanity  must  ever  yield  to  the  requisitions  of  war.  Thii 
fierce  battle  of  eighteen  years  was  fought  to  decide  which  of 


CHAKLE3      VI.  Mf 

Ihiee  men,  Peter  of  Russia,  Charles  of  Sweden,  or  Augustus 
of  Poland,  should  have  the  right  to  exact  tribute  from  Li- 
vonia.  This  province  was  a  vast  pasture  on  the  Baltic,  con- 
taining about  seventeen  thousand  square  miles,  and  inhabited 
by  about  five  hundred  thousand  poor  herdsmen  and  tillers  of 
the  soil. 

Peter  the  Great  was  in  the  end  victorious  in  this  long  con- 
flict ;  and  having  attached  large  portions  of  Sweden  to  hia 
territory,  with  a  navy  upon  the  Baltic,  and  a  disciplined 
army,  began  to  be  regarded  as  a  European  power,  and  was 
quite  disposed  to  make  his  voice  heard  in  the  diplomacy  of 
Europe.  Queen  Anne  having  died,  leaving  no  children,  the 
law'  of  hereditary  descent  carried  the  crown  of  England  to 
Germany,  and  placed  it  upon  the  brow  of  the  Elector  of 
Hanover,  who,  as  grandson  of  James  I.,  was  the  nearest  heir, 
but  who  could  not  speak  a  word  of  English,  who  knew  noth- 
ing of  constitutional  law,  and  who  was  about  as  well  qualified 
to  govern  England  as  a  Patagonian  or  Esquimaux  would  have 
been.  But  obedience  to  this  law  of  hereditary  descent  was 
a  political  necessity.  There  were  thousands  of  able  men  in 
England  who  could  have  administered  the  government  with 
honor  to  themselves  and  to  the  country.  But  it  is  said  in  re- 
ply that  the  people  of  England,  as  a  body,  were  not  then,  and 
probably  are  not  even  now,  sufliciently  enlightened  to  be  in- 
trusted with  the  choice  of  their  own  rulers.  Respect  for  the 
ballot-box  is  one  of  the  last  and  highest  attainments  of  civiliza- 
tion. Recent  developments  in  our  own  land  have  led  many 
to  fear  that  barbarism  is  gaining  upon  the  people.  If  the 
ballotrbox  be  overturned,  the  cartridge-box  must  take  its 
place.  The  great  battle  we  have  to  fight  is  the  battle  against 
popular  ignorance.  The  great  army  we  are  to  support  is  the 
ai'my  of  teachers  in  the  schools  and  in  the  pulpit,  elevating 
the  mind  to  the  highest  possible  intelligence,  and  guiding  the 
heai  t  by  the  pure  spirit  of  the  gospel. 

The  emperor  was  so  crowded  with  aflfairs  of  immediate 


868  TUE     UOUSE     OF     AUSTKlil. 

urgency,  and  it  was  so  evident  that  he  could  not  drive  Philip 
from  the  thioue,  now  that  he  was  recognized  by  all  Europe, 
that  he  postponed  the  attempt  for  a  season,  while  he  still 
adopted  the  title  of  King  of  Spain.  His  troops  had  hardly 
returned  from  the  brilliant  campaign  of  Belgrade,  ere  the  em- 
peror saw  a  cloud  gathering  in  the  north,  which  excited  his 
most  serious  apprehension.  Russia  and  Sweden,  irritated  by 
some  of  the  acts  of  the  emperor,  formed  an  alliance  for  the 
invasion  of  the  German  empire.  The  fierce  warriors  of  the 
north,  led  by  such  captains  as  Charles  XII.  and  Peter  the 
Great,  were  foes  not  to  be  despised.  This  threatened  invasion 
not  only  alarmed  the  emperor,  but  alarmed  George  I.  of 
England,  as  his  electorate  of  Hanover  was  imperiled;  and 
also  excited  the  fears  of  Augustus,  the  Elector  of  Saxony,  who 
bad  regained  the  throne  of  Poland.  England  and  Poland 
consequently  united  with  th^  jmperor,  and  formidable  prep- 
arations were  in  progress  for  a  terrible  war,  when  one  single 
chance  bullet,  upon  the  field  of  Pultowa,  struck  Charles  XII., 
as  he  was  looking  over  the  parapet,  and  dispersed  this  cloud 
which  threatened  the  desolation  of  all  Europe. 

Austria  was  now  the  preponderating  power  in  degenerate 
Italy.  Even  those  States  which  were  not  in  subjection  to  the 
emperor,  were  overawed  by  his  imperious  spirit.  Genoa  waa 
nominally  independent.  The  Genoese  aiTested  one  of  the 
imperial  officers  for  some  violation  of  the  laws  of  the  republic. 
The  emperor  sent  an  army  to  the  gates  of  the  city,  threaten- 
aig  it  with  bombardment  and  utter  destruction.  They  were 
thus  compelled  immediately  to  liberate  the  officer,  to  pay  • 
fine  of  three  hundred  thousand  dollars,  and  to  send  a  senator 
to  Vienna  with  humble  expressions  of  contrition,  and  to  im 
plore  pardon. 

The  kingdom  of  Sardinia  was  at  this  time  the  most  power- 
ful State  in  Italy,  if  we  except  those  united  Italian  States 
nrhich  now  composed  an  integral  part  of  the  Austrian  empire 
Victor  Asmedeus,  the  energetic  king,  had  a  small  but  vigo» 


CUABLES     Yi  869 

ons  army,  and  held  himself  ready,  with  this  army,  for  a  suit 
able  remmieration,  to  engage  in  the  service  of  any  sovereign 
without  asking  any  troublesome  questions  as  to  the  righteous- 
ness of  the  expedition  in  which  he  was  to  serve.  The  Sar- 
dinian king  was  growing  rich,  and  consequently  ambitious. 
He  wished  to  rise  fi'om  the  rank  of  a  secondary  to  that  of  a 
primary  power  in  Europe.  There  was  but  one  direction  in 
which  he  could  hope  to  extend  his  territories,  and  that  was  by 
pressing  into  Lombardy.  He  had  made  the  remark,  which 
was  repeated  to  the  emperor,  "I  must  acquire  Lombardy 
piece  by  piece,  as  I  eat  an  artichoke."  Charles,  consequently, 
watched  Victor  with  a  suspicious  eye. 

The  four  great  powers  of  middle  and  southern  Europe 
were  Austria,  England,  France,  and  Spain.  All  the  other 
minor  States,  innumerable  in  name  as  well  as  number,  were 
compelled  to  take  refuge,  openly  or  secretly,  beneath  one  or 
another  of  these  great  monarchies. 

In  France,  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  the  regent  during  the  mi- 
nority of  Louis  XV.,  whose  court,  in  the  enormous  expendi- 
tures of  vice,  exhausted  the  yearly  earnings  of  a  population  of 
twenty  millions,  was  anxious  to  unite  the  Bourbon  branches  of 
France  and  Spain  in  more  intimate  alliance.  He  accordingly 
affianced  the  young  sovereign  of  France  to  Mary  Anne,  daugh- 
ter of  Philip  V.  of  Spain.  At  the  same  time  he  married  his 
own  daughter  to  the  king's  oldest  son,  the  Prince  of  Asturias, 
who  was  heir  to  the  throne.  Mary  Anne,  to  whom  the  young 
king  was  affianced,  was  only  four  years  of  age. 

The  personal  history  of  the  monarchs  of  Europe  is,  almost 
without  exception,  a  melancholy  history.  By  their  ambition 
and  their  wars  they  whelmed  the  cottages  in  misery,  and  by  a 
righteous  retribution  misery  also  inundated  the  palace.  Philip 
V.  became  the  victim  of  the  most  insupportable  melancholy. 
Earth  had  no  joy  which  could  lift  the  cloud  of  gloom  from  his 
souL  For  months  he  was  never  known  to  smile.  Imprisoning 
himself  in  his  palace  he  refused  to  see  any  company,  and  left 


370  THE     no  USE     OP     A08TE1A 

all  the  cares  of  government  in  the  hands  of  his  wife,  EliaabetJi 
Faruese. 

Germany  was  still  agitated  bj  the  great  religions  ooatest 
between  the  Catholics  and  the  Protestants,  which  divided  the 
empire  into  two  nearly  equal  parties,  bitterly  hostile  to  each 
other.  Various  fruitless  attempts  had  been  made  to  bring  the 
parties  together,  into  unity  of  faith^  by  compromise.  Neither 
party  were  reconciled  to  cordial  toleration^  free  and  ftill,  in 
which  alone  harmony  can  be  obtained.  In  all  the  States  of 
the  empire  the  Catholics  and  the  Prote^pnts  were  coming  con- 
tinually into  collision.  Charles,  though  a  very  decided  Catho- 
lic, was  not  disposed  to  persecute  the  Protestants,  as  most  of 
his  predecessors  had  done,  for  he  feared  to  rouse  them  to 
despair. 

England,  France,  Austria  and  Spain,  were  now  involved  in 
an  inextricable  maze  of  diplomacy.  Congresses  were  assem- 
bled and  dissolved  ;  treaties  made  and  violated ;  alliances 
formed  and  broken.  Weary  of  the  conflict  of  arms,  they  were 
engaged  in  the  more  harmless  squabbles  of  intrigue,  each  seek- 
ing its  own  aggrandizement.  Philip  V.,  who  had  fought  so 
many  bloody  battles  to  acquire  the  crown  of  Spain,  now,  dis- 
gusted with  the  cares  which  that  crown  involved,  overwhelmed 
with  melancholy,  and  trembling  in  view  of  the  final  judgment 
of  God,  suddenly  abdicated  the  throne  in  favor  of  his  son 
Louis,  and  took  a  solemn  oath  that  he  would  never  resume  it 
again.  This  event,  which  surprised  Europe,  took  place  on  the 
lOth  of  February,  1724.     Philip  retired  to  St.  Ildefonso. 

The  celebrated  palace  of  St,  Ildefonso,  which  became  tae 
retreat  of  the  monarch,  was  about  forty  miles  north  of  Ma- 
drid, in  an  elevated  ravine  among  the  mountains  of  Gaudar- 
ruma.  It  was  an  enormous  pile,  nearly  four  thousand  feet 
above  the  level  of  the  sea,  and  reared  by  the  Spanish  mon- 
archs  at  an  expense  exceeding  thirty  millions  of  dollars.  Th« 
palace,  two  stories  high,  and  oocapjring  three  sides  of  a  squart, 
presents  a  front  five  hundred  and  thirty  feet  in  length.    In 


OHABLBS     VI.  371 

thii^  front  alone  there  are,  upon  each  story,  twelve  gorgeoos 
apartments  in  a  suite.  The  interior  is  decorated  in  the  richest 
style  of  art,  with  frescoed  ceilings,  and  splendid  mirrors,  and 
tesselated  floors  of  variegated  marble.  The  furniture  was  em- 
bellished with  gorgeous  carvings,  and  enriched  with  marble, 
iasper  and  verd-antique.  The  galleries  were  filled  with  the 
most  costly  productions  of  the  chisel  and  the  penciL  The 
spacious  garden,  spread  out  before  the  palace,  was  cultivated 
with  the  utmost  care,  and  ornamented  with  fouatains  surpass- 
ing even  those  of  Versailles. 

To  this  magnificent  retreat  Philip  V.  retired  with  his  iak> 
perious,  ambitious  wife.  She  was  the  step-mother  of  his  soo 
who  had  succeeded  to  the  throne.  For  a  long  time,  by  the 
vigor  of  her  mind,  she  had  dominated  over  her  husband,  and 
had  in  reality  been  the  sovereign  of  Spain.  In  the  magnificent 
palace  of  St.  Ildefonso,  she  was  by  no  means  inclined  to  relin- 
quish her  power.  Gathering  a  brilliant  couit  around  her,  she 
still  issued  her  decrees,  and  exerted  a  powerful  influence  over 
the  kingdom.  The  young  Louis,  who  was  but  a  boy,  was  not 
disposed  to  engage  in  a  quarrel  with  his  mother,  and  for  a 
time  submitted  to  this  interference ;  but  gradually  he  wai 
roused  by  his  adherents,  to  emancipate  himself  from  these 
shackles,  and  to  assume  the  authority  of  a  soveregn.  This 
led  to  very  serious  trouble.  The  abdicated  king,  in  his  mop- 
ing melancholy,  was  entirely  in  subjection  to  his  wife.  There 
were  now  two  rival  courts.  Parties  were  organizing.  Some 
were  for  deposing  the  son ;  others  for  imprisoning  the  fether. 
The  kingdom  was  on  the  eve  of  a  civil  war,  when  death  kindly 
came  to  settle  the  difficulty. 

The  young  King  Louis,  bat  eighteen  years  of  age,  after  a 
nominal  reign  of  but  eight  months,  was  seized  with  that  awfol 
scourge  the  small-pox,  and,  after  a  few  days  of  suffering  and 
delirium,  was  consigned  to  the  tomb.  Philip,  notwithstand* 
ing  his  vow,  was  constrained  by  his  wife  to  resume  the  crown, 
she  probably  proToising  to  relieve  him  of  all  care.     Such  are 


872  THB     HOUSS     OP     AUSTRIA. 

the  vicissitudes  cf  a  hereditary  government.  Elizabeth,  with 
woman's  spirit,  now  commanded  the  emperor  to  renounce  tha 
title  of  King  of  Spain,  which  he  still  claimed.  Charles,  with 
the  spirit  of  an  emperor,  declared  that  he  would  do  no  such 
thing. 

There  was  another  serious  source  of  difficulty  between  the 
two  monai'chs,  which  has  descended,  generation  after  genera- 
tion, to  our  own  time,  and  to  this  day  is  only  settled  by  each 
party  quietly  persisting  in  his  own  claim. 

In  the  year  1430  Philip  III.,  Duke  of  Burgundy,  instituted 
a  new  order  of  knighthood  for  the  protection  of  the  Catholic 
church,  to  be  called  the  order  of  the  Golden  Fleece.  But 
twenty-four  members  were  to  be  admitted,  and  Philip  himself 
was  the  grand  master.  Annual  meetings  were  held  to  fill  va- 
cancies. Charles  V.,  as  grand  master,  increased  the  number 
of  knights  to  fifty-one.  After  his  death,  as  the  Burgundian 
provinces  and  the  Netherlands  passed  under  the  dominion  of 
Spain,  the  Spanish  monarchs  exercised  the  office  of  grand  mas- 
ter, and  conferred  the  dignity,  which  was  now  regarded  the 
highest  order  of  knighthood  in  Europe,  according  to  their 
pleasure.  But  Charles  VI.,  now  in  admitted  possession  of  the 
Netherlands,  by  virtue  of  that  possession  claimed  the  office 
of  grand  master  of  the  Golden  Fleece.  Philip  also  claimed  it 
as  the  inheritance  of  the  kings  of  Spain.  The  dispute  has 
never  been  settled.  Both  parties  still  claim  it,  and  the  order 
is  still  conferred  both  at  Vienna  and  Madrid. 

Other  powers  interfered,  in  the  endeavor  to  promote  reo- 
onciliation  between  the  hostile  courts,  but,  as  usual,  only  in- 
creased the  acrimony  of  the  two  parties.  The  young  Spanish 
princess  Mary  Anne,  who  was  affianced  to  the  Dauphin  of 
France,  was  sent  to  Paris  for  her  education,  and  that  she 
might  become  familiar  with  the  etiquette  of  a  court  over  which 
she  was  to  preside  as  queen.  For  a  time  she  was  treated  with 
great  attention,  and  child  as  she  was,  received  all  the  homage 
which  the  courtiers  were  accustomed  to  pay  to  the  Queen  of 


OHARLBS     VI.  87S 

France.  But  amidst  the  intrigues  of  the  times  a  change 
arose,  and  it  was  deemed  a  matter  of  state  policy  to  marry 
the  boy-king  to  another  princess.  The  French  court  conse- 
quently rejected  Maria  Anne  and  sent  her  back  to  Spain,  and 
married  Louis,  then  but  fifteen  yeare  of  age,  to  Maria  Lebrin- 
sky,  daughter  of  the  King  of  Poland.  The  rejected  child  was 
too  young  fully  to  appreciate  the  mortification.  Her  parents, 
however,  felt  the  insult  most  keenly.  The  whole  Spanish  court 
was  roused  to  resent  it  as  a  national  outrage.  The  queen  was 
BO  indignant  that  she  tore  from  her  arm  a  bracelet  which  she 
wore,  containing  a  portrait  of  Louis  XV.,  and  dashing  it  upon 
the  floor,  trampled  it  beneath  her  feet.  Even  the  king  wai 
roused  from  his  gloom  by  the  humiliation  of  his  child,  and 
declared  that  no  amount  of  blood  could  atone  for  such  an  in- 
dignity. 

Under  the  influence  of  this  exasperation,  the  queen  re- 
solved to  seek  reconciliation  with  Austria,  that  all  friendly 
relations  might  be  abandoned  with  France,  and  that  Spain  and 
Austria  might  be  brought  into  intimate  alliance  to  operate 
against  their  common  foe.  A  renowned  Spanish  diplomatist, 
the  Baron  of  Ripperda,  had  been  for  some  time  a  secret  agent 
of  the  queen  at  the  court  of  Vienna,  watching  the  progress  of 
events  there.  He  resided  in  the  suburbs  under  a  fictitious 
name,  and  eluding  the  vigilance  of  the  ministry,  had  heid  by 
night  several  secret  interviews  with  the  emperor,  proposing  to 
Inrn,  in  the  name  of  the  queen,  plans  of  reconciliation.  Let- 
ters were  inmiediately  dispatched  to  Ripperda  urging  him  to 
eome  to  an  accommodation  with  the  emperor  upon  almost  any 
terms. 

A  treaty  was  soon  concluded,  early  m  the  spring  of  1725. 
The  emperor  renounced  all  claim  to  the  Spanish  crown,  ea- 
ccred  into  an  alliance,  both  oflfensive  and  defensive,  with  Philip, 
and  promised  to  aid,  both  with  men  and  money,  to  help  re- 
cover Gibi altar  from  the  English,  which  fortress  they  had  held 
since  they  seized  upon  it  in  the  war  of  the  Spanish  succession. 


874  THE     HOUSE     OF     AUSTRIA. 

In  consideration  of  these  great  concessions  Philip  agreed  to 
recognize  the  right  of  the  emperor  to  the  Netherlands  and  to 
his  acquisitions  in  Italy.  He  opened  all  the  ports  of  Spain  to 
the  subjects  of  the  emperor,  and  pledged  himself  to  support 
the  Pragmatic  Sanction,  which  wrested  the  crown  of  Austria 
from  the  daughters  of  Joseph,  and  transmitted  it  to  the  daugh- 
ters of  Charles.  It  was  this  last  clause  which  influenced  the 
emperor,  for  his  whole  heart  was  set  upon  the  accomplishment 
of  this  important  result,  and  he  was  willing  to  make  almost 
any  sacrifice  to  attain  it.  There  were  also  some  secret  articles 
attached  which  have  never  been  divulged. 

The  immediate  demand  of  Spain  for  the  surrender  of  tho 
rock  of  Gibraltar  was  the  signal  for  all  Europe  to  marshal  it- 
self for  war — a  war  which  threatened  the  destruction  of  hun 
dreds  of  thousands  of  lives,  millions  of  property,  and  which 
was  sure  to  spread  far  and  wide  over  populous  cities  and  ex- 
tended provinces,  carnage,  conflagration,  and  unspeakable 
woe.  The  question  was,  whether  England  or  Spain  should 
have  possession  of  a  rock  seven  miles  long  and  one  mile  broad, 
which  was  supposed,  but  very  erroneously,  to  command  the 
Mediterranean.  To  the  rest  of  Europe  it  was  hardly  a  mat- 
ter of  the  slightest  moment  whether  the  flag  of  England  or 
Spain  waved  over  those  granite  clifis.  It  seems  incredible 
that  beings  endowed  with  reason  could  be  guilty  of  such  mad- 
pess. 

England,  with  great  vigor,  immediately  rallied  on  her  side 
France,  Hanover,  Holland,  Denmark  and  Sweden.  On  the 
other  side  were  Spain,  Austria,  Russia,  Prussia  and  a  large 
number  of  the  minor  States  of  Germany.  Many  months  were 
occupied  in  consolidating  these  coalitions,  and  in  raising  the 
armies  and  gathering  the  materials  for  the  war. 

In  the  meantime  Ripperda,  having  so  successfully,  as  he  sup- 
posed, concluded  his  negotiations  at  Vienna,  in  a  high  state  of 
exultation  commenced  his  journey  back  to  Spain.  Passing 
down  through  the  Tyrol  and  traversing  Italy  he  embarked  at 


CBABLBS    VI  898 

€^oa  and  landed  at  Baroelona.  Here  be  boasted  kmdiy  of 
what  he  had  accomplished. 

**  Spain  and  the  emperor  now  nnited,"  be  said,  "  will  give 
the  law  to  Europe.  The  emperor  has  one  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  troops  under  arms,  and  in  dx  months  can  bring  at 
many  more  into  the  field.  France  shall  be  pillaged.  George  L 
^all  be  driven  both  from  his  Glerman  and  his  British  territo> 
ries.** 

From  Barcelona  Ripperda  traveled  rapidly  to  Madrid» 
where  he  was  received  with  almost  regal  honors  by  the  queen, 
who  was  now  in  reality  the  sovereign.  She  immediately  ap- 
pointed him  Secretary  of  State,  and  transferred  to  him  the 
reins  of  government  which  she  had  taken  from  the  unresisting 
hands  of  her  moping  husband.  Thus  Ripperda  became,  in  aU 
but  title,  the  King  of  Spain.  He  was  a  weak  man,  of  just 
those  traits  of  character  which  would  make  him  a  haughty 
woman's  favorite.  He  was  so  elated  with  this  success,  becamo 
so  insufferably  vain,  and  assumed  such  imperious  airs  as  to  dis' 
gust  all  parties.  He  made  the  most  extravagant  promises  of 
the  subsidies  the  emperor  was  to  furnish,  and  of  the  powers 
which  were  to  combine  to  trample  England  and  FrMice  be- 
neath their  feet.  It  was  soon  seen  that  these  promises  were 
merely  the  vain-glorious  boasts  of  his  own  heated  brain.  Even 
the  imperial  ambassador  at  Madrid  was  so  repelled  by  his  ar- 
rogance, that  he  avoided  as  far  as  possible  all  social  and  even 
diplomatic  intercourse  with  him.  There  was  a  general  com- 
bination of  the  courtiers  to  crush  the  favorite.  The  queen, 
who,  with  all  her  ambition,  had  a  good  share  of  sagacity,  soon 
saw  the  mistake  she  had  made,  and  in  four  months  after  Rip- 
perda's  return  to  Madrid,  he  was  dismissed  in  disgrace. 

A  general  storm  of  contempt  and  indignation  pursued  the 
discarded  minister.  His  rage  was  now  inflamed  as  much  as  his 
vanity  had  been.  Feat-ful  of  arrest  and  imprisonment,  and 
burning  with  that  spirit  of  revenge  which  is  ever  strongest  in 
weakest  minda.  he  took  refuge  in  the  house  of  the  British  am- 


o70  THE     HOITSB     OP     A1TSTBIA. 

bassador,  Mr.  Stanhope.  Hostilities  had  not  yet  ocmmenoed 
ludeed  there  had  been  no  declaration  of  war,  and  diplomatic 
relations  still  continued  undisturbed.  Each  party  was  acting 
secretly,  and  watching  the  movements  of  the  other  with  a 
jealous  eye. 

Ripperda  sought  protection  beneath  the  flag  of  England, 
and  with  the  characteristic  ignominy  of  deserters  and  traitors, 
endeavored  to  ingratiate  himself  with  his  new  friends  by  dis- 
closing all  the  secrets  of  his  negotiations  at  Vienna.  UnQc» 
these  circumstances  full  confidence  can  not  be  placed  in  his 
declarations,  for  he  had  already  proved  himself  to  be  quite  un- 
scrupulous  in  regard  to  truth.  The  indignant  queen  sent  an 
armed  force,  arrested  the  duke  in  the  house  of  the  Britisli  am- 
bassador, and  sent  him,  in  close  imprisonment,  to  the  castle  of 
Segovia.  He,  however,  soon  escaped  from  there  and  fled  to 
England,  where  he  reiterated  his  declarations  respecting  the 
secret  articles  of  the  treaty  of  Vienna.  The  most  important 
of  these  declarations  was,  that  Spain  and  the  emperor  had 
agieed  to  drive  George  I.  from  England  and  to  place  tha 
Pretender,  who  had  still  many  adherents,  upon  the  British 
throne.  It  was  also  asserted  that  marriage  contracts  were  en- 
tered into  which,  by  uniting  the  daughters  of  the  emperor  with 
the  sons  of  tlie  Spanish  monarch,  would  eventually  place  the 
crowns  of  Austria  and  Spain  upon  the  same  brow.  The  thought 
of  such  a  vast  accumulation  of  power  in  the  hands  of  any  one 
monarch,  alarmed  all  the  rest  of  Europe.  Both  Spain  and  the 
emperor  denied  many  of  the  statements  made  by  Ripperda. 
But  as  truth  has  not  been  esteemed  a  diplomatic  virtue,  and 
as  both  Ripperda  and  the  sovereigns  he  had  served  were  equal- 
^  tempted  to  falsehood,  and  were  equally  destitute  of  any 
character  for  truth,  it  is  not  easy  to  decide  which  party  to  be* 
fieve. 

England  and  France  took  occasion,  through  these  disclo- 
enres,  to  rouse  the  alarm  of  Europe.  So  much  apprehension 
was  excited  in  Prussia,  Bavaria,  and  with  other  princes  of  the 


CHARLES    VI.  f7T 

empii-e,  who  were  appalled  at  the  thought  of  having  another 
Spanish  prmce  upon  the  imperial  throne,  that  the  emperor 
sent  ambassadors  to  these  courts  to  appease  their  anxiety,  and 
issued  a  public  declaration  denying  that  any  such  marriages 
were  in  contemplation ;  while  at  the  same  time  he  was  prom- 
ising the  Queen  of  Spain  these  marriages,  to  secure  her  sup- 
port, England  and  France  accuse  the  emperor  of  deliberate, 
persistent,  unblushing  falsehood. 

The  emperor  seems  now  to  have  become  involved  in  an 
inextricable  maze  of  prevarication  and  duplicity,  striving  in 
one  court  to  accomplish  purposes  which  in  other  courts  he  was 
denying  that  he  wished  to  accomplish.  His  embarrassment 
at  length  became  so  great,  the  greater  part  of  Europe  being 
roused  and  jealous,  that  he  was  compelled  to  abandon  Spain, 
and  reluctantly  to  sign  a  treaty  of  amity  with  France  and  En- 
gland. A  general  armistice  was  agreed  upon  for  seven  years. 
The  King  of  Spain,  thus  abandoned  by  the  emperor,  was  also 
compelled  to  smother  his  indignation  and  to  roll  back  his  artil- 
lery into  the  arsenals.  Thus  this  black  cloud  of  war,  which 
threatened  all  Europe  with  desolation,  was  apparently  dispelled. 
This  treaty,  which  seemed  to  restore  peace  to  Europe,  was 
fflg-ned  in  June,  1727.  It  was,  however,  a  hollow  peace.  The 
spirit  of  ambition  and  aggression  animated  every  court ;  and 
each  one  was  ready,  in  defiance  of  treaties  and  in  defiance  o£ 
the  misery  of  the  world,  again  to  unsheath  the  sword  as  soon 
an  any  opportunity  should  offer  for  the  increase  of  territ<Nr^ 
or  power. 


CHAPTER    XXIV. 

OHAELBS   VI.    AND    THE    POLISH    VAB. 
From  1727  to  1735. 

flAai>iVAi  Flsitbt. — ^Thk  Emperoe  of  Austeia  uboes  thb  Pkaomatio  Sawcticb.— 
He  PBOMI8E8  HIS  TWO  Daughtees  to  the  two  Sons  of  the  Qceen  of  BPAra.-* 
France,  England  and  Spain  unite  aqainbt  Austria. — Charles  VI.  issues  0»- 
deeb  to  pbbparb  foe  Was. — His  Peeplexities.— Sbceet  Overtures  to  Eh- 
OLAND. — The  Crown  of  Poland.- Meeting  of  the  Polibh  Conoeess. — Stanis- 
laus   GOES    TO     POLANB. — AUGUSTUS    III.    OBOWNKD. — WaR. — CbaBLKS     SENDS    AN 

Army  to  LoMBARDY.~DiFFioirLTiE8  of  Pbinob  Euoene. — Charles's  Displeab 
UEE  WITH  England. — Letter  to  Count  Kinsky.— Hostilitibs  bbniwbd. 

THE  young  King  of  France,  Louis  XV.,  from  amidst  the 
orgies  of  his  court  which  rivaled  Babylon  in  comiption, 
was  now  seventeen  years  of  age,  and  was  beginning  to  shake 
off  the  trammels  of  guardianship  and  to  take  some  ambitions 
part  in  government.  The  infamous  regent,  the  Duke  of  Or- 
leans, died  suddenly  of  apoplexy  in  1723.  Gradually  the  king's 
preceptor,  Fleury,  obtained  the  entire  ascendency  over  the 
mmd  of  his  pupil,  and  became  the  chief  director  of  afi^rg. 
He  saw  the  policy  of  reuniting  the  Bourbons  of  France  and 
Spain  for  the  support  of  each  other.  The  policy  was  conse- 
quently adopted  of  cultivating  friendly  relations  between  the 
two  kingdoms.  Cardinal  Fleury  was  much  disposed  to  thwart 
the  plans  of  the  emperor.  A  congress  of  the  leading  powers 
had  been  assembled  at  Soissons  in  June,  1728,  to  settle  some 
diplomatic  questions.  The  favorite  object  of  the  emperor  now 
was,  to  obtain  from  the  European  powera  the  formal  guarantee 
to  support  his  decree  of  succession  which  conveyed  the  crown 
of  Austria  to  his  daughters,  in  preference  to  those  of  his  ix*cther 
Joseph. 


0HARLE3    VI.     A.Nf>    THE    POLISH     WAR  379 

The  emperor  urged  tlie  Pragmatic  Sanction  strongly  upon 
the  congress,  as  the  basis  upon  which  he  would  enter  into 
friendly  relations  with  all  the  powers.  Fleury  opposed  it,  and 
with  such  influence  over  the  other  plenipotentiaries  as  to  se- 
cure its  rejection.  The  emperor  was  much  irritated,  and  inti- 
mated war.  France  and  England  retorted  defiance.  Spain 
was  becoming  alienated  from  the  emperor,  who  had  abandoned 
her  cause,  and  was  again  entering  into  alliance  with  France 
The  emperor  had  promised  his  eldest  daughter,  Maria  Theresa, 
to  Carlos,  son  of  the  Queen  of  Spain,  and  a  second  daughter 
to  the  next  son,  Philip.  These  were  as  brilliant  matches  as  an 
ambitious  mother  could  desire.  But  while  the  emperor  was 
making  secret  and  solemn  promises  to  the  Queen  of  Spain,  that 
these  marriages  should  be  consummated,  which  would  secure 
to  the  son  of  the  queen  the  Austrian,  as  well  as  the  Spanish 
crown,  he  was  declaring  to  the  courts  of  Europe  that  he  had 
no  such  plans  in  contemplation. 

The  Spanish  queen,  at  length,  annoyed,  and  goaded  on  by 
France  and  England,  sent  an  ambassador  to  Vienna,  and  de- 
manded of  the  emperor  a  written  promise  that  Maria  Theresa 
was  to  be  the  bride  of  Carlos.  The  emperor  was  now  brought 
to  the  end  of  his  intrigues.  He  had  been  careful  heretofore 
to  give  only  verbal  promises,  through  his  ministers.  Afler  his 
reiterated  public  denials  that  any  such  alliance  was  anticipated, 
he  did  not  dare  commit  himself  by  giving  the  requu-ed  docu- 
ment. An  apologetic,  equivocal  answer  was  returned  which 
so  roused  the  ire  of  the  queen,  that,  breaking  off  from  Austria, 
she  at  once  entered  into  a  treaty  of  cordial  union  with  En- 
gland and  France. 

It  will  readily  be  seen  that  all  these  wars  and  intrigues 
had  but  little  reference  to  the  welfare  of  the  masses  of  the 
people.  They  were  hardly  moi*e  thought  of  than  the  cattle 
and  the  poultry.  The  only  purpose  they  served  was,  by  uninter- 
mitted  toil,  to  raise  the  wealth  which  supported  the  castle  and 
the  palace,  and  to  march  to  the  field  to  fight  battles,  in  whicb 


380  THB     HOUSE     OF     AUSTRIA 

they  had  no  earthly  interest.  The  wi-itten  history  of  Enropd 
is  only  the  history  of  kings  and  nobles — their  ambitions,  in- 
trigues and  war.  The  unwritten  history  of  the  dumb,  t(Hl« 
faig  millions,  defrauded  of  their  rights,  doomed  to  poverty  and 
ignorance,  is  only  recorded  in  the  book  of  God's  remembranoe. 
When  that  page  shall  be  read,  every  « ^r  that  hears  it  wf& 
tingle. 

The  frail  connection  between  Austria  and  Spain  was  now  tei^ 
minated.  England,  France  and  Spain  entered  into  an  alliance 
to  make  vigorous  war  against  Charles  VI.  if  he  manifested  any 
hostility  to  any  of  the  articles  of  the  treaty  into  which  they 
had  entered.  The  Queen  of  Spain,  in  her  spite,  forbade  the 
subjects  of  the  emperor  from  trading  at  all  with  Spain,  and 
granted  to  her  new  allies  the  exclusive  right  to  the  Spanish 
trade.  She  went  so  far  in  her  reconciliation  with  England  as 
to  assure  the  king  that  he  was  quite  welcome  to  retain  the 
rock  of  Gibraltar  which  he  held  with  so  tenacious  a  grasp. 

In  this  treaty,  with  studied  neglect,  even  the  name  of  the 
emperor  was  not  mentioned;  and  yet  the  allies,  as  if  to  pro- 
voke a  quarrel,  sent  Charles  VI.  a  copy,  peremptorily  de« 
manding  assent  to  the  treaty  without  his  having  taken  any 
part  whatever  in  the  negotiation. 

This  insulting  demand  fell  like  a  bomb-shell  in  the  palace 
at  Vienna.  Empeior,  ministers,  couitiers,  all  were  aroused  tj© 
a  frenzy  of  indignation.  "  So  insulting  a  message,"  said  Coun£ 
Zinzendorf,  "  is  unparalleled,  even  in  the  annals  of  savages.*' 
The  emperor  condescended  to  make  no  reply,  but  very  spirit, 
edly  issued  orders  to  all  parts  of  the  empire,  for  his  troops  ^ 
hold  themselves  in  readiness  for  war. 

And  yet  Charles  was  overwhelmed  with  anxiety,  and  wm 
almost  in  despair.  It  was  a  terrible  humiliation  for  the  em- 
peror  to  be  compelled  to  submit,  unavenged,  to  such  an  insolb. 
But  how  could  the  emperor  alone,  venture  to  meet  in  bafetie 
England,  France,  Spain  and  all  the  other  powers  whom  three 
such  kingdoms  could,  either  by  persuasion  or  compuisioD, 


CHAELES     VI.     AND     THE     POLISH     WAE.      381 

bring  into  their  alliance  ?  He  plead  with  hh  natural  allies. 
Russia  had  not  been  insulted,  and  waa  unwilling  to  engage  in 
80  distant  a  war.  Prussia  had  no  hope  of  gaining  any  thing, 
and  declined  the  contest.  Sardinia  sent  a  polite  message  to 
the  emperor  that  it  was  more  for  her  interest  to  enter  into 
an  alliance  with  her  searer  neighbors,  France,  Spain  and  En- 
gland, and  that  she  bad  accordingly  done  so.  The  treasury  of 
Charles  was  eichausted  ;  his  States  were  impoverished  by  con- 
stant and  desolating  wars.  And  his  troops  manifested  but 
little  zeal  to  enter  the  field  against  so  fearful  a  superiority  of 
force.  The  emperor,  tortured  almost  beyond  endurance  by 
chagrin,  was  yet  compelled  to  submit. 

The  allies  were  quite  willing  to  provoke  a  war  with  the 
emperor;  but  as  he  received  their  insults  so  meekly,  and 
made  no  movement  against  them,  they  were  rather  disposed 
to  march  against  him.  Spain  wanted  Parma  and  Tuscany, 
but  France  was  not  willing  to  have  Spain  make  so  great  an 
accession  to  her  Italian  power.  France  wished  to  extend  her 
area  north,  through  the  States  of  the  Netherlands.  But 
England  was  unwilling  to  see  the  French  power  thus  aggiau- 
dized.  England  had  her  aspirations,  to  which  both  France 
and  Spain  were  opposed.  Thus  the  allies  operated  as  a  check 
upon  each  other. 

The  emperor  found  some  little  consolation  in  this  growing 
disunion,  and  did  all  in  his  power  to  foment  it.  Wishing  to 
humble  the  Bourbons  of  France  and  Spain,  he  made  seciet 
overtures  to  England.  The  offers  of  the  erapeior  were  of 
such  a  nature,  that  England  eagerly  accepted  them,  returned 
to  friendly  relations  with  the  emperor,  and,  to  his  extreme  joy, 
pledged  herself  to  support  the  Pragmatic  Sanction. 

It  seems  to  have  been  the  great  object  of  the  emperor's 
life  to  secure  the  crown  of  Austria  for  his  daughters.  It  was 
an  exceedingly  disgraceful  act.  There  was  no  single  respect- 
able reason  to  be  brought  forward  why  his  daughters  should 
TTowd  from  the  throne  the  daughters  of  his  elder  deceased 


8S2  THE    HOITSB    OF     ATTSTBIA. 

brother,  the  Emperor  Joseph.  Charles  was  so  aware  of  the 
gross  injustice  of  the  deed,  and  that  the  ordinary  integrity  o€ 
humanity  woald  rise  against  him,  that  he  felt  the  necessity  of 
exhausting  all  the  arts  of  tii;)lomacy  to  secnre  for  his  daughters 
the  pledged  support  of  the  surrounding  thrones.  He  ha<i 
now  by  intrigues  of  many  years  obtained  the  guarantee  of  the 
Pragmatic  Sanction  from  Russna,  Prussia,  Holland,  Spain  and 
England.  France  still  refused  her  pledge,  as  did  also  many 
of  the  minor  States  of  the  empire.  The  emperor,  encouraged 
by  the  success  he  had  thus  far  met  with,  pushed  his  efforts 
with  renewed  vigor,  and  in  January,  1732,  exulted  that  he 
had  gained  the  guarantee  of  the  Pragmatic  Sanction  fi-om  all 
the  Germanic  body,  with  the  exception  of  Bavaria,  Palatine 
Mid  Saxony. 

And  now  a  new  difficulty  arose  to  embroil  Europe  in  trou- 
ble. When  Charles  XH.,  like  a  thunderbolt  of  war,  burst 
upon  Poland,  he  drove  Augustus  H.  from  the  throne,  and 
placed  upon  it  Stanislaus  Leczinski,  a  Polish  noble,  whom  he 
had  picked  up  by  the  way,  and  whose  heroic  character  se- 
cured the  admiration  of  this  semi-insane  monarch,  Augus- 
tus, utterly  crushed,  was  compelled  by  his  eccentric  victor  to 
send  the  crown  jewels  and  the  archives,  with  a  letter  of  con- 
gratulation, to  Stanislaus.  This  was  in  the  year  1706.  Three 
years  after  this,  in  1700,  Charles  XH.  suffered  a  memorable 
defeat  at  Pultowa.  Augustus  H.,  then  at  the  head  of  an 
army,  regained  his  kingdom,  and  Stanislaus  fled  in  disguise. 
Aifter  numerous  adventures  and  fearful  afiiictions,  the  court 
of  France  offered  him  a  retreat  in  Wissembourg  in  Alsaoe, 
Here  the  ex-king  remained  for  six  years,  when  his  beautiful 
daughter  Mary  was  selected  to  take  the  place  of  the  rejected 
Mary  of  Spsun,  as  the  wife  of  the  young  dauphin,  Louis  XV. 

In  the  year  1733  Augustus  II.  died.  In  anticipation  of  this 
event  Austria  had  be^i  very  busy,  hoping  to  secure  the  elect- 
ive crown  of  Poland  for  the  son  of  Augustus  who  had  inher- 
ited  his  father's  name,  and  who  bad  promised  to  sapport  the 


0HABLB8    VI.    AND    THE    POLISH     "WAK.         383 

Pragmatic  Sanction.  France  was  eqn^y  busy  in  the  endeavor 
to  place  the  scepter  of  Poland  in  the  hand  of  Stanislaus,  father 
of  the  queen.  From  the  time  of  the  marriage  of  his  daughter 
with  Louis  XV.,  Stanislaus  reomved  a  handsome  pension  from 
the  French  treasury,  maintained  a  ooort  of  regal  splendor,  and 
received  all  the  honors  due  to  a  sovereign.  All  the  energies 
of  the  French  court  were  now  aroused  to  secure  the  crown  for 
Stanislaus.  Russia,  Prussia  and  Austiia  were  in  natural  sym- 
pathy. They  wished  to  secure  the  alliance  of  Poland,  and 
were  also  both  anxioos  to  destroy  the  republican  principle  of 
Meeting  rulers,  and  to  introduce  hereditary  descent  of  the  crown 
in  all  the  kingdoms  of  Europe.  But  an  election  by  the  nobles 
was  now  indispensable,  and  the  rival  powers  were,  with  all  the 
arts  known  in  courts,  pushing  the  claims  of  their  several  can- 
didates. It  was  an  important  question,  for  upon  it  depended 
whether  warlike  Poland  was  to  be  the  ally  of  the  Austrian  or 
of  the  French  party.  Poland  was  also  becoming  quite  repub- 
lican in  its  tendencies,  and  had  adopted  a  constitution  which 
greatly  limited  the  power  of  the  crown.  Augustus  would  be 
but  a  tool  in  the  hands  of  Russda,  Prussia  and  Austria,  and 
would  codperate  with  them  in  crushing  the  spirit  of  liberty  in 
Poland.  These  three  great  northern  powers  became  so  roused 
upon  the  subject,  that  they  put  their  troops  in  motion,  threat- 
ening to  exclude  Stanislaus  by  force. 

Thm  language  of  menace  and  display  of  arms  ronsed  France. 
The  king,  while  inundating  Poland  with  agents,  Mid  lavishing 
the  treasure  of  France  in  bribes  to  secure  the  election  of  Stan- 
islaus, assumed  an  air  of  virtuous  indignation  in  view  of  the 
interference  of  the  Aastrian  jaity,  and  declared  that  no  foiw 
eign  power  ^onld  interfere  in  any  way  with  the  freedom  of 
tile  election.  Ttis  led  the  emperor  to  issue  a  counter-memo 
nal  inveighing  against  the  intermeddling  of  France. 

In  the  midst  of  these  turmoils  the  congress  of  Polish  noWei 
met  to  choose  their  king.  It  was  immediately  apparent  that 
there  was  &  very  powerful  party  organized  in  favor  of  Stanis* 


384  THE     HOUSE    OF     AUSTRIA. 

laus.  The  emperor  was  for  marching  directly  into  the  king- 
dom with  an  army  which  he  had  already  assembled  in  Silesia 
for  this  purpose,  and  with  the  bayonet  make  up  for  any  de- 
ficiency which  his  party  might  want  in  votes.  Though  Prus- 
sia demurred,  he  put  his  troops  in  motion,  and  the  imperial  and 
Russian  ambassadors  at  Warsaw  informed  the  marshal  of  the 
diet  that  Catharine,  who  was  now  Empress  of  Russia,  and 
Charles,  had  decided  to  exclude  Stanislaus  from  Poland  by 
force. 

These  threats  produced  their  natural  effect  upon  the  bold 
warrior  barons  of  Poland.  Exasperated  rather  than  intimi 
dated,  they  assembled,  many  thousands  in  number,  on  the 
great  plain  of  Wola,  but  a  few  miles  from  Warsaw,  and  with 
great  unanimity  chose  Stanislaus  their  king.  This  was  the 
12th  of  September,  1733.  Stanislaus,  anticipating  the  result, 
had  left  France  in  disguise,  accompanied  by  a  single  attend- 
ant, to  undertake  the  bold  enterpiise  of  traversing  the  heart 
of  Germany,  eluding  all  the  vigilance  of  the  emperor,  and  of 
entering  Poland  notwithstanding  all  the  efforts  of  Austria, 
Russia  and  Prussia  to  keep  him  away.  It  was  a  very  hazard- 
ous adventure,  for  his  arrest  would  have  proved  his  ruin. 
Though  he  encountered  innumerable  dangers,  with  marvelous 
sagacity  and  heroism  he  succeeded,  and  reached  Warsaw  on 
the  9th  of  September,  just  three  days  before  the  election.  In 
regal  splendor  he  rode,  as  soon  as  informed  of  his  election,  to 
the  tented  field  where  the  nobles  were  convened.  He  was  re- 
ceived with  the  clashing  of  weapons,  the  explosions  of  artil- 
lery, and  the  acclamations  of  thousands. 

But  the  Poles  were  not  sufficiently  enlightened  fully  to 
©omprehend  the  virtue  and  the  sacredness  of  the  ballot-box. 
The  Russian  army  was  now  hastening  to  the  gates  of  War- 
saw. The  small  minority  of  Polish  nobles  opposed  to  the  elec- 
tion of  Stanislaus  seceded  from  the  diet,  mounted  their  horseSj 
crossed  the  Vistula,  and  joined  the  invading  army  to  make  wai 
npon  the  sovereign  whom  the  majority  had  chosen.     The  rotf 


CH^RLirS     VI.     AND    THE     POLISH     WAB.        8181 

rfbution  for  such  folly  and  wickedness  has  come.  There  is  bo 
ionger  any  Poland,  They  who  despise  the  authority  of  the 
ballot-box  inevitably  usher  in  the  bayonets  of  despotism.  Un- 
der the  protection  of  this  army  the  minority  held  another  diet 
at  Kamien  (on  the  6th  of  October),  a  village  just  outside  the 
suburbs  of  Warsaw,  and  chose  as  the  sovereign  of  Poland  Au- 
gustus, son  of  the  deceased  king.  The  minority,  aided  by  the 
Russian  and  imperial  armies,  were  too  strong  for  the  majority. 
They  took  possession  of  Warsaw,  and  crowned  their  candidate 
king,  with  the  title  of  Augustus  III.  Stanislaus,  pressed  by  an 
overpowering  force,  retreated  to  Dantzio,  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Vistula,  about  two  hundred  miles  from  Warsaw.  Here  he 
was  surrounded  by  the  Russian  troops  and  held  in  close  siege, 
while  Augustus  III.  took  possession  of  Poland.  France  could 
do  nothing.  A  weary  march  of  more  than  a  thousand  miles 
separated  Paris  from  Warsaw,  and  the  French  troops  would 
be  compelled  to  fight  their  way  through  the  very  heart  of  the 
German  empire,  and  at  the  end  of  the  journey  to  meet  the 
nnited  armies  of  Russia,  Prussia,  Austria  and  Poland  under  her 
king,  now  in  possession  of  all  the  fortresses. 

Though  Louis  XV.  could  make  no  effectual  resistance,  it 
was  not  in  human  nature  but  that  he  should  seek  revenge. 
When  shepherds  quarrel,  they  kill  each  other's  flocks.  Wh«i 
kings  quarrel,  they  kill  the  poor  peasants  in  each  other's  terri- 
tories, and  burn  their  homes.  France  succeeded  in  enlisting 
in  her  behalf  Spain  and  Sardinia.  Austria  and  Russia  were 
upon  the  other  side.  Prussia,  jealous  of  the  emperor's  great- 
ness, declined  any  active  paiticipation.  Most  of  the  other 
powers  of  Europe  also  remained  neutral.  France  had  now  no 
hope  of  placing  Stanislaus  upon  the  throne ;  she  only  sought 
revenge,  determined  to  humble  the  house  of  Austria.  The 
mercerAry  King  of  Sardinia,  Charles  Emanuel,  was  willing  to 
serve  the  one  who  would  pay  the  most.  He  first  offered  hini' 
self  to  the  emperor,  Imt  npon  terms  too  exorbitant  to  be  ao> 
cepted .    France  and  ^pein  immediate&y  offered  him  terms  evea 


886  THB    HOTTSB    OF    AUSTRIA. 

more  advantageous  than  those  he  had  demanded  of  the  empe 
ror.  The  contract  was  settled,  and  the  Sardinian  army  marched 
into  the  allied  camp. 

The  King  of  Sardinia,  who  was  as  ready  to  employ  guile 
as  force  in  warfare,  so  thoroughly  deceived  the  emperor  as  to 
icad  him  to  believe  that  he  had  accepted  the  emperor's  terms, 
and  that  Sardinia  was  to  be  allied  with  Austria,  even  when  tho 
whole  contract  was  settled  with  France  and  Spain,  and  the 
plan  of  the  campaign  was  matured.  So  utterly  was  the  em- 
peror deluded  by  a  fraud  so  contemptible,  in  the  view  of  every 
honorable  mind,  that  he  sent  great  convoys  of  grain,  and  a 
large  supply  of  shot,  shells  and  artillery  frou'  the  arsenals  of 
AGlan  into  the  Sardinian  camp.  Charles  Emanuel,  dead  to  all 
sense  of  magnanimity,  rubbed  his  hands  with  delight  in  the 
successful  perpetration  of  such  fraud,  exclaiming,  ^^An  virtus 
an  dolos,  quia  ab  hoste  requiraty 

So  cunningly  was  this  stratagem  carried  on,  that  the  em- 
peror was  not  undeceived  until  his  own  artillery,  which  he  had 
sent  to  Charles  Emanuel,  were  thundering  at  the  gates  of  the 
city  of  Milan,  and  the  shot  and  shells  which  he  had  so  unsus- 
pectingly furnished  were  mowing  down  the  imperial  troops. 
So  sudden  was  the  attack,  so  unprepared  was  Austrian  Lora- 
bardy  to  meet  it,  that  in  twelve  weeks  the  Sardinian  troops 
overran  4ho  whole  territory,  seized  every  city  and  magazine, 
with  all  their  treasures,  leaving  the  fortress  of  Mantua  alone 
in  the  possession  of  the  imperial  troops.  It  was  the  policy  of 
Louis  XV,  to  attack  Austria  in  the  remote  portions  of  her  widely- 
extended  dominions,  and  to  cut  off  province  by  province.  He 
also  made  special  and  successful  efforts  to  detach  the  interests 
«f  the  German  empire  from  those  of  Austria,  so  that  the 
princes  of  the  empire  might  claim  neutrality.  It  was  against 
the  possessions  of  Charles  VI.,  not  against  the  independent 
States  of  the  empire,  that  Louis  XV.  urged  war. 

The  storms  of  winter  were  now  at  hand,  and  both  parties 
were  compelled  to  abandon  the  field  until  spring.     But  during 


CHAKLES     VI.     AND     THE    POLISH     WA2.         387 

the  winter  every  nerve  was  strained  by  the  combatants  in 
preparation  for  the  strife  which  the  returning  sun  would  in 
troduce.  The  emperor  established  strong  defenses  along  the 
banks  of  the  Rhine  to  prevent  the  passage  of  the  French ;  he 
also  sent  agents  to  all  the  princes  of  the  empire  to  enlist  them 
m  his  cause,  and  succeeded,  notwithstanding  the  remonstrances 
of  many  who  claimed  neutrality,  in  obtaining  a  vote  from  a 
diet  which  he  assembled,  for  a  large  sum  of  money,  and  for  an 
army  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  men. 

The  loss  of  Lombardy  troubled  Charles  exceedingly,  for  it 
threatened  the  loss  of  all  his  Italian  possessions.  Notwith- 
standing the  severity  of  the  winter  he  sent  to  Mantua  all  the 
troops  he  could  raise  from  his  hereditary  domains ;  and  or- 
dered every  possible  effort  to  be  made  to  be  prepared  to  un- 
dertake the  offensive  in  the  spring,  and  to  drive  the  Sardinians 
from  Lombardy.  In  the  beginning  of  May  the  emperor  had 
assembled  within  and  around  Mantua,  sixty  thousand  men, 
under  the  command  of  Count  Merci.  The  hostile  forces  soon 
met,  and  battle  after  battle  thundered  over  the  Italian  plains. 
On  the  29th  of  June  the  two  armies  encountered  each  other 
in  the  vicinity  of  Parma,  in  such  numbers  as  to  give  promise 
of  a  decisive  battle.  For  ten  hours  the  demoniac  storm  raged 
unintermitted.  Ten  thousand  of  the  dead  covered  the  ground. 
Neither  jjarty  had  taken  a  single  standard  or  a  single  prisoner, 
an  event  almost  unparalleled  in  the  history  of  battles.  From 
the  utter  exhaustion  of  both  parties  the  strife  ceased.  The 
Sardinians  and  French,  mangled  and  bleeding,  retired  within 
the  walls  of  Parma.  The  Austrians,  equally  bruised  and  bloody, 
having  lost  their  leader,  retired  to  Reggio.  Three  hundred  and 
forty  of  the  Austrian  officers  were  either  killed  or  wounded. 

The  King  of  Sardinia  was  absent  during  this  engagement, 
having  gone  to  Turin  to  visit  his  wife,  who  was  sick.  The 
morning  after  the  battle,  however,  he  joined  the  army,  and 
succeeded  in  cutting  off  an  Austrian  division  of  twelve  hun- 
dred  men,  whom  he  took  prisoners.     Both  parties  now  waited 


888  THE     HOUSE     OF     AUSTBlA. 

for  a  time  to  heal  their  wounds,  repair  their  shattered  weap 
ons,  get  rested  and  receive  reinforcements.  Ten  thousand  pool 
peasants,  who  had  not  the  slightest  interest  in  the  quarrel,  had 
now  met  with  a  bloody  death,  and  other  thousands  were  now 
to  be  brought  forward  and  offered  as  victims  on  this  altar  of 
kingly  ambition.  By  the  middle  of  July  they  were  again  pre- 
pared to  take  the  field.  Both  parties  struggled  with  almost 
superhuman  energies  in  the  work  of  mutual  destruction ;  vil- 
lages were  burned,  cities  stormed,  fields  crimsoned  with  blood 
and  strewn  with  the  slaiu,  while  no  decisive  advantage  was 
gained.  In  the  desperation  of  the  strife  the  hostile  battalions 
were  hurled  against  each  other  until  the  Ov. ginning  of  January. 
They  waded  morasses,  slept  in  drenching  storms,  and  were 
swept  by  freezing  blasts.  Sickness  entered  the  camp,  and  was 
even  more  fatal  than  the  bullet  of  the  foe.  Thousands  moaned 
and  died  in  their  misery,  upon  pallets  of  straw,  where  no  sis- 
ter, wife  or  mother  could  soothe  the  dying  anguish.  Another 
winter  only  afforded  the  combatants  opportunity  to  nurse 
their  strength  that  they  might  deal  still  heavier  blows  in 
another  campaign. 

While  the  imperial  troops  were  struggling  against  Sar- 
dinia and  France  on  the  plains  of  Lombardy,  a  Spanish  squad- 
ron landed  a  strong  military  force  of  French  and  Spaniards 
ixpon  the  peninsula  of  southern  Italy,  and  meeting  with  no 
force  sufficiently  powerful  to  oppose  them,  speedily  overran 
Naples  and  Sicily.  The  Spanish  troops  silenced  the  forts  which 
defended  the  city  of  Naples,  and  taking  the  garrison  prisoners, 
entered  the  metropolis  in  oriumphal  array,  greeted  by  the  ac- 
clamations of  the  populace,  who  hated  the  Austrians.  After 
many  battles,  in  which  thousands  were  slain,  the  Austrians  were 
driven  out  of  all  the  Neapolitan  States,  and  Carlos,  the  oldest 
Bon  of  Philip  V.  of  Spain,  was  crowned  King  of  Naples,  with 
the  title  of  Charles  III.  The  island  of  Sicily  was  speedily  sub- 
jugated and  also  attached  to  the  Neapolitan  crown. 

These  losses  the  emperor  fe.t  most  keenly.      Upon  the 


CHABLBS      VI.     AXD     THE     POLISH     WAB.        389 

Rhine  he  had  made  great  preparations,  strengtheniug  fortresses 
and  collecting  troops,  which  he  placed  under  the  command  of 
his  veteran  general,  Prince  Eugene.  He  was  quite  sanguine 
that  here  he  would  be  abundantly  able  to  repel  the  assaults  of 
his  foes.  But  heie  again  he  was  doomed  to  bitter  disappoint- 
ment.  The  emperor  found  a  vast  disproportion  between  prom- 
ise and  performance.  The  diet  had  voted  him  one  hundred 
and  twenty  thousand  troops ;  they  furnished  twelve  thousand. 
They  voted  abundant  supplies;  they  furnished  almost  none 
at  all. 

The  campaign  opened  the  9th  of  April,  1734,  the  French 
crossing  the  Rhine  near  Truerbuch,  in  three  strong  columns, 
notwithstanding  all  the  efforts  of  the  Austrians  to  resist  them. 
Prince  Eugene,  by  birth  a  Frenchman,  reluctantly  assumed 
the  command.  He  had  remonstrated  with  the  emperor  against 
any  forcible  interference  in  the  Polish  election,  assuring  him 
tbat  he  would  thus  expose  himself,  almost  %vithout  allies,  to  all 
the  power  of  France.  Eugene  did  not  hesitate  openly  to  ex- 
press his  disapprobation  of  the  war,  "  I  can  take  no  interest 
in  this  war,"  he  said ;  "  the  question  at  issue  is  not  important 
enough  to  authorize  the  death  of  a  chicken." 

Eugene,  upon  his  arrival  from  Vienna,  at  the  Austrian 
camp,  found  but  twenty-five  thousand  men.  They  were  com- 
posed of  a  motley  assemblage  from  different  States,  undisci- 
plined, unaccustomed  to  act  together  and  with  no  confidence 
in  each  other.  The  commanders  of  the  various  corps  were 
quarreling  for  the  precedence  in  rank,  and  there  was  no  unity 
or  subordination  in  the  army.  They  were  retreating  before 
the  French,  who,  in  numbers,  in  discipline,  and  in  the  materiel 
of  war,  were  vastly  in  the  superiority.  Eugene  saw  at  once 
that  it  would  be  folly  to  risk  a  battle,  and  that  all  he  could 
hope  to  accomplish  was  to  throw  such  embarrassments  as  he 
might  in  the  path  of  the  victors. 

The  young  officers,  ignorant,  impetuous  and  reckless,  were 
for  giving  battle,  which  would  inevitably  have  resulted  in  the 


890  THE     HOUSE     OF     AUSTRIA. 

destruction  of  the  army.  They  were  so  vexed  by  the  wise  caa 
tion  of  Eugene,  which  they  regarded  as  pusillanimity,  that  they 
complained  to  the  emperor  that  the  veteran  general  was  m  his 
dotage,  that  he  was  broken  both  in  body  and  mind,  and  quite 
unfit  to  command  the  army.  These  representations  induced 
the  emperor  to  send  a  spy  to  watch  the  conduct  of  Eugene. 
Though  deeply  wounded  by  these  suspicions,  the  experienced 
general  could  not  be  provoked  to  hazard  an  engagement.  He 
retreated  from  post  to  post,  merely  checking  the  progress  of 
the  enemy,  till  the  campaign  was  over,  and  the  ice  and  snow  <^ 
a  German  winter  drove  all  to  winter  quarters. 

While  recruiting  for  the  campaign  of  1735,  Prince  Eugene 
wrote  a  series  of  most  earnest  letters  t»  his  confidential  a,geat 
in  London,  which  letters  were  laid  before  George  II.,  urging 
England  to  come  to  the  help  of  the  emperor  in  his  great  ex- 
tremity. Though  George  was  eager  to  put  the  fleet  and  army 
of  England  in  motion,  the  British  cabinet  wisely  refused  to 
plunge  the  nation  into  war  for  such  a  cause,  and  the  emperor 
was  left  to  reap  the  bitter  fruit  of  his  despotism  and  folly. 
The  emperor  endeavored  to  frighten  England  by  saying  that 
he  was  reduced  to  such  an  extremity  that  if  the  British  caW- 
net  did  not  give  him  aid,  he  should  be  compelled  to  seek  peace 
by  giving  his  daughter,  with  Austria  in  her  hand  as  her  dow- 
ry, to  Carlos,  now  King  of  Naples  and  heir  apparent  to  the 
crown  of  Spain,  He  well  knew  that  to  prevent  such  an  acqui- 
sition of  power  on  the  part  of  the  Spanish  monarch,  who  was 
also  in  intimate  alliance  with  France,  England  would  be  ready 
to  expend  any  amount  of  blood  and  treasure. 

Charles  VI.  waited  with  great  impatience  to  see  the  result 
of  this  menace,  hardly  doubting  that  it  would  bring  England 
immediately  to  terms.  Bitter  was  his  disappointment  and  his 
despair  when  he  received  from  the  court  of  St.  James  the  calm 
reply,  that  England  could  not  possibly  take  a  part  in  this  war, 
and  that  in  view  of  the  great  embarrassments  in  which  the 
emperor  was  involved,  England  would  take  no  offense  in  case 


0HABLK3     VI.     AND     THB     POLISH     WAR.        391 

of  the  marriage  of  the  emperor's  second  daughter  to  Carlos. 
Euglaud  then  advised  the  emperor  to  make  peace  by  surren- 
dering the  Netherlands. 

The  emperor  was  now  greatly  enraged,  and  inveighed  bit- 
terly against  England  as  guilty  of  the  grossest  perfidy.  Ho 
declared  that  England  had  been  as  deeply  interested  as  he  was 
in  excluding  Stanislaus  from  the  throne  of  Poland ;  that  it  was 
more  important  for  England  than  for  Austria  to  curb  the  ex- 
horbitant  power  of  France ;  that  in  every  step  he  had  taken 
against  Stanislaus,  he  had  consulted  England,  and  had  acted 
in  accordance  with  her  counsel ;  that  England  was  reaping  the 
benefit  of  having  the  father-in-law  of  the  French  king  expelled 
from  the  Polish  throne ;  that  England  had  solemnly  promised 
to  support  him  in  these  measures,  and  now  having  derived 
aU  the  advantage,  basely  abandoned  him.  There  were  bitter 
charges,  and  it  has  never  been  denied  that  they  were  mainly 
true.  The  emperor,  in  his  indignation,  threatened  to  tell  the 
whole  story  to  the  people  of  England.  It  is  strange  that  the 
emperor  had  found  out  that  there  were  people  in  England.  In 
no  other  part  of  Europe  was  there  any  thing  but  nobles  and 
peasants. 

In  this  extraordinary  letter,  addressed  to  Count  Kinsky, 
the  imperial  ambassador  in  London,  the  emperor  wrote  : 

"  On  the  death  of  Augustus  11.,  King  of  Poland,  my  first 
care  was  to  communicate  to  the  King  of  England  the  princi- 
ples on  which  I  acted.  I  followed,  in  every  instance,  his  ad- 
vice. *  *  *  England  has  never  failed  to  give  me  j^romises, 
both  before  and  since  the  commencement  of  the  war,  but  in- 
stead of  fiilfilling  those  promises,  she  has  even  favored  my 
enemies.  *  *  *  Let  the  king  know  that  I  never  will  consent 
to  the  plan  of  pacification  now  in  agitation ;  that  I  had  rather 
Buflfer  the  worst  of  extremities  than  accede  to  such  disadvan- 
tageous  proposals,  and  that  even  if  I  should  not  be  able  to 
prevent  them,  I  will  justify  my  honor  and  my  dignity,  by  pub- 
lishing a  circumstantial  account  of  all  the  transaction,  together 


392  THB     HOU8K     OF     AUSTRIA. 

with  all  the  documents  which  I  have  now  in  possession.  *  *  • 
If  these  representations  fail,  means  must  be  taken  to  publish 
and  circulate  throughout  England  our  answer  to  the  proposal 
of  good  offices  which  was  not  made  till  after  the  expiration 
of  nine  months.  Should  the  court  of  London  proceed  so  fer 
as  to  make  such  propositions  of  peace  as  are  supposed  to  be  in 
agitation,  you  will  not  delay  a  moment  to  circulate  throughout 
England  a  memorial,  containing  a  recapitulation  of  all  negoti- 
ations which  have  taken  place  since  1710,  together  with  the 
authentic  documents,  detailing  my  just  complaints,  and  re* 
claiming,  in  the  most  solemn  manner,  the  execution  of  the 
guaranties." 

One  more  effort  the  emperor  made^  and  it  was  indeed  a 
desperate  one.  He  dispatched  a  secret  agent,  an  English  Ro- 
man Catholic,  by  the  name  of  Strickland,  to  London,  to  en. 
deavor  to  overthrow  the  ministry  and  bring  in  a  cabinet  in 
favor  of  him.  In  this,  of  course,  he  failed  entirely.  Nothing 
now  remained  for  him  but  to  submit,  with  the  best  grace  he 
could,  to  the  terms  exacted  by  his  foes.  In  the  general  pacific 
cation  great  interests  were  at  stake,  and  all  the  leading  pow- 
ers of  Europe  demanded  a  voice  in  the  proceedings.  For 
many  months  the  negotiations  were  protracted.  England  and 
France  became  involved  in  an  angry  dispute.  Each  power 
was  endeavoring  to  grasp  all  it  could,  while  at  the  same  time 
it  was  striving  to  check  the  rapacity  of  every  other  power. 
There  was  a  general  armistice  while  these  negotiations  were 
pending.  It  was,  however,  found  exceedingly  difficult  to  rec- 
oncile all  conflicting  interests.  New  parties  were  formed ; 
new  combinations  entered  into,  and  all  parties  began  to  aim 
for  a  renewal  of  the  stiife.  England,  exasperated  against 
France,  in  menace  made  an  imposing  display  of  her  fleet  and 
navy  The  emperor  was  delighted,  and,  trusting  to  gain  new 
allies,  exerted  his  skill  of  diplomacy  to  involve  the  contract- 
ing parties  in  confusion  and  discord. 

Thus  encouraged,  the  emperor  refused  to  accede  to  the 


CHARLES      VI.      AND     THJE      POLISH      WAR.       393 

terms  demanded.  He  was  required  to  give  up  the  Nether- 
lands, and  all  his  foreign  possessions,  and  to  retire  to  his  hered- 
itary dominions.  "  What  a  severe  sentence,"  exclaimed  Count 
Zinzendorf,  the  emperor's  ambassador,  "have  you  passed  on 
the  emperor.  No  malefactor  was  ever  carried  with  so  hard  a 
doom  to  the  gibbet." 

The  armies  again  took  the  field.  Eugene,  again,  though 
with  great  reluctance,  assumed  the  command  of  the  imperial 
forces.  France  had  assembled  one  hundred  thousand  men 
upon  the  Rhine.  Eugene  had  but  thirty  thousand  men  to 
meet  them.  He  assured  the  emperor  that  with  such  a  force 
he  could  not  successfully  carry  on  the  war.  Jealous  of  his 
reputation,  he  said,  sadly,  "  to  find  myself  in  the  same  condi- 
tion as  last  year,  will  be  only  exposing  myself  to  the  censure 
of  the  world,  which  judges  by  appearancs,  as  if  I  were  less 
capable,  in  my  old  age,  to  support  the  reputation  of  my  former 
successes."  With  consummate  generalship,  this  small  foroe 
held  the  whole  French  army  in  check. 


CHAPTER    XXV. 

CHARLES   VL    AND    THE    TURKISH   WAR    RENEWEIX 

From  1735  to  17S9. 

AnxtETT  OF  AxmTBiAN  OpnoB-HOLDEBS. — Maria  Theresa. — ^Thb  Dttki:  op  Lobbains.— 

DiBTEAOTION  OF  THE  EmPEKOE.— TuSOANT    A8SIONBD  TO  THE     DcKE  OF  LOBBAINE.— 

Death  of  Euoene. — Rising  Geeatkesb  of  Bcssia. — New  War  with  the  Turks, 
—Condition  of  thb  Aemt. — Cohhenoement  of  Hobtuities. — Capttjbe  of  Nissa. 
— Inefficient  Campaign. — Disobaoe  of  Seckendoef. — ^The  Dckk  of  Lobbaini 
PLACED  IN  Command. — Sieob  of  Oesova.— Bblgbadk  besieged  by  the  Titbks. — 
The  third  Campaign. — Battle  of  Ceotzka. — Defeat  of  the  Austbians.— Con- 

BTEBNATIOK  tN  Vn»NA.— BaeBABIBM  OV  THE  TlTBKB. — ThB  StTREENDEB  OF  BeL- 
OBASB. 

THE  emperor  being  quite  unable,  either  on  the  Rhine  or  in 
Italy,  successfully  to  compete  with  his  foes,  received  blow 
after  blow,  which  exceedingly  disheartened  him.  His  affairs 
were  in  a  desperate  condition,  and,  to  add  to  his  grief,  dis- 
sensions filled  his  cabinet ;  his  counsellors  mutually  accusing 
each  other  of  being  the  cause  of  the  impending  ruin.  The 
Italian  possessions  of  the  emperor  had  been  thronged  with 
Austrian  nobles,  filling  all  the  posts  of  office  and  of  honor,  and 
receiving  rich  salaries.  A  change  of  administration,  in  the 
transference  of  these  States  to  the  dominion  of  Spain  and 
Sardinia,  "  reformed"  all  these  Austrian  office-holders  out  of 
their  places,  and  conferred  these  posts  upon  Spaniards  and 
Sardinians.  The  ejected  Austrian  nobles  crowded  the  court 
of  the  emperor,  with  the  most  passionate  importunities  that 
he  would  enter  into  a  separate  accommodation  with  Spain, 
and  secure  the  restoration  of  the  Italian  provinces  by  giving 
his  eldest  daughter,  Maria  Theresa,  to  the  Spanish  prince, 
Carlos.     This  would  seem  to  be  a  very  simple  arrangement. 


CHARLES      VI.  395 

especially  siuce  the  Queen  of  Spain  so  earnestly  desired  this 
match,  that  she  was  willing  to  make  almost  any  sacrifice  for 
its  aooomplishment.  But  there  was  an  inseparable  obstacle  it> 
the  way  of  any  such  arrangement. 

Maria  Theresa  had  just  attained  her  eighteenth  year.  She 
was  a  young  lady  of  extraordinary  force  of  character,  and 
of  aa  imperial  spirit ;  and  she  had  not  the  slightest  idea  of 
having  heF  person  disposed  of  as  a  mere  make-weight  in  the 
diplomacy  of  Europe.  She  knew  that  the  crown  of  Austria 
was  soon  to  be  hers ;  she  understood  the  weakness  of  her 
fether,  and  was  well  aware  that  she  was  fer  more  capable  of 
wearing  that  crown  than  he  had  ever  been  ;  and  she  was  al- 
ready far  more  disposed  to  take  the  reins  of  government  from 
her  father's  band,  than  she  was  to  submit  herself  to  his  con- 
trol. With  such  a  character,  and  such  anticipations,  she  had 
become  passionately  attached  to  the  young  Duke  of  Lorraine, 
who  was  eight  years  her  senior,  and  who  had  for  some  years 
been  one  of  the  most  brilliant  ornaments  of  her  father's  court. 

The  duchy  of  Lorraine  was  one  of  the  most  extensive  and 
ipulent  of  the  minor  States  of  the  German  empire.  Admira- 
bly situated  upon  the  Rhine  and  the  Meuse,  and  extending  to 
the  sea,  it  embraced  over  ten  thousand  square  miles,  and 
contained  a  population  of  over  a  million  and  a  half.  The 
dnke,  Francis  Stephen,  was  the  heir  of  an  illustrious  line, 
whose  lineage  could  be  traced  for  many  centuries.  Germany, 
France  and  Spain,  united,  had  not  sufficient  power  to  induce 
Maria  Theresa  to  reject  Francis  Stephen,  the  grandson  of  her 
father's  sister,  the  playmate  of  her  childhood,  and  now  her 
devoted  lover,  heroic  and  fascinating,  for  the  Spanish  Carlos,  of 
whom  she  knew  little,  and  for  whom  she  cared  less.  Ambition 
also  powerftilly  operated  on  the  very  peculiar  mind  of  Maria 
Theresa.  She  had  much  of  the  exacting  spirit  of  Elizabeth, 
England's  maiden  queen,  and  was  emulous  of  supremacy  which 
no  one  would  share.  She,  in  her  own  right,  was  to  inherit 
the  crown  of  Austria,  and  Francis  Stephen,  high-bom  and 


89(1  THE     HOUSE      OF     AUSTRIA. 

noble  as  be  was,  and  her  recognized  husband,  would  still  be 
her  subject.  She  could  confer  upon  him  dignity  and  power, 
retaining  a  supremacy  which  even  he  could  never  reach. 

The  emperor  was  fully  aware  of  the  attachment  of  his 
daughter  to  Francis,  of  her  inflexible  character ;  and  even 
when  pretending  to  negotiate  for  her  marriage  with  Carlos, 
he  was  conscious  that  it  was  all  a  mere  pretense,  and  that  the 
union  could  never  be  effected.  The  British  minister  at  Vienna 
Baw  very  clearly  the  true  state  of  affairs,  and  when  the  emperor 
was  endeavoring  to  intimidate  England  by  the  menace  that  he 
would  unite  the  ci'owns  of  Spain  and  Austria  by  uniting  Maria 
and  Carlos,  the  minister  wrote  to  his  home  government  as 
follows : 

"  Maria  Theresa  is  a  princess  of  the  highest  spirit ;  her 
fathei's  losses  are  her  own.  She  reasons  already ;  she  enters 
into  affairs ;  she  admires  his  virtues,  but  condemns  his  mis- 
management ;  and  is  of  a  temper  so  formed  for  rule  and  am- 
bition, as  to  look  upon  him  as  little  more  than  her  adminis- 
trator. Notwithstanding  this  lofty  humor  by  day,  she  sighs 
and  pines  all  night  for  her  Duke  of  Lorraine.  If  she  sleeps, 
it  is  only  to  dream  of  him  ;  if  she  wakes,  it  is  but  to  talk  of 
him  to  the  lady  in  waiting ;  so  that  there  is  no  more  prob- 
ability of  her  foi-getting  the  very  individual  government,  and 
the  very  individual  husband  which  she  thinks  herself  born  to, 
than  of  her  forgiving  the  authors  of  her  losing  either." 

The  empress  was  cordially  cooperating  with  her  daughter. 
The  emperor  was  in  a  state  of  utter  distraction.  His  affairs 
were  fast  going  to  ruin  ;  he  was  harassed  by  counter  intreat- 
ies ;  he  knew  not  which  way  to  turn,  or  what  to  do.  Insup- 
portable gloom  oppressed  his  spirit.  Pale  and  haggard,  he 
wandered  through  the  rooms  of  his  palace,  the  image  of  woe. 
At  night  he  tossed  sleepless  upon  his  bed,  moaning  in  anguish 
which  he  then  did  not  attempt  to  conceal,  and  giving  free 
utterance  to  all  the  mental  tortures  which  were  goading  him 
to  madness.      The  queen  became  seriously  alarmed  lest  hi* 


CHARLES     VI.  3©^ 

reason  shonld  break  down  beneath  such  a  weij^t  of  vroe.  It 
was  clear  that  neither  reason  nor  Hfe  could  long  withstand 
such  a  struggle. 

Thus  in  despair,  the  emperor  made  proposals  for  a  secret  and 
separate  accommodation  with  France.  Louis  XV.  promptly 
listened,  and  offered  terms,  appallingly  definite,  and  cro^ 
enough  to  extort  the  last  drop  of  blood  from  the  emperor*i 
sinking  heart.  "  Give  me,"  said  the  French  king,  **  the  duchy 
of  Lorraine,  and  I  will  withdraw  my  armies,  and  leave  Austria 
to  make  the  best  terms  she  can  with  Spain." 

How  could  the  emperor  wrest  from  his  prospective  son-hi- 
law  his  magnificent  ancestral  inheritance  ?  The  duke  could 
not  hold  his  realms  for  an  hour  agmnst  the  armies  of  France, 
should  the  emperor  consent  to  their  surrender ;  and  consciona 
of  the  desperation  to  which  the  emperor  was  driven,  and  of 
his  helplessness,  be  was  himself  plunged  into  the  deepest 
dismay  and  anguish.  He  held  an  interview  with  the  British 
minister  to  see  if  it  were  not  possible  that  England  might  in- 
terpose her  aid  in  his  behalf.  In  frantic  grief  he  lost  his  self 
control,  and,  throwing  himself  into  a  chair,  pressed  his  brow 
convulsively,  and  exclaimed,  "  Great  God !  will  not  England 
help  me  ?  Has  not  his  majesty  with  his  own  lips,  over  and 
over  again,  promised  to  stand  by  me  ?" 

The  French  armies  were  advancing ;  shot  and  shell  were 
falling  upon  village  and  city ;  fortress  after  fortress  was  sor- 
rendering.  "  Give  me  Lorraine,**  repeated  Louis  XV.,  per- 
Mstently,  **  or  I  will  take  all  Austria.**  There  was  no  altemi^ 
tive  but  for  the  emperor  to  drink  to  the  dregs  the  bitter  cop 
which  his  own  hand  had  mingled.  He  SRrrendered  Lorraine 
to  France.  He,  however,  succeeded  in  obtaining  some  slight 
eompensation  for  the  defrauded  duke.  The  French  court  al- 
lowed him  a  pension  of  ninety  thousand  dollars  a  year,  until 
the  death  of  the  aged  Duke  of  Tuscany,  rho  was  the  last  of 
the  Medici  line,  promising  that  then  Tuscany,  one  of  the  most 
hnportant  duchies  of  central  Italy,  should  pass  into  the  handfe 


398  THE     HOUSB     OF     AUSTUIA. 

of  Francis.  Should  Sardinia  offer  any  opposition,  the  King 
of  France  promised  to  unite  with  the  emperor  in  maintaining 
Francis  in  his  possession  by  force  of  arms.  Peace  was  thua 
obtained  with  France.  Peace  was  then  made  with  Spain  and 
Sardinia,  by  surrendering  to  Spain  Naples  and  Sicily,  and  to 
Sardinia  most  of  the  other  Austrian  provinces  in  Italy.  Thue 
scourged  and  despoiled,  the  emperor,  a  humbled,  woe-stricken 
man,  retreated  to  the  seclusion  of  his  palace. 

While  these  affairs  were  in  progress,  Francis  Stephen  de- 
rived very  considerable  solace  by  his  marriage  with  Maria 
Theresa.  Their  nuptials  took  place  at  Vienna  on  the  12th  of 
February,  1736.  The  emperor  made  the  consent  of  the  duke 
to  the  cession  of  Lorraine  to  France,  a  condition  of  the  mar- 
riage.  As  the  duke  struggled  against  the  surrender  of  his  pa- 
ternal domains,  Cartenstein,  the  emperor's  confidential  minis- 
ter, insultingly  said  to  him,  "  Mon seigneur,  point  de  cession, 
point  d'archiduchesse."  My  lord,  no  cession,  no  archduchess. 
Fortunately  for  Francis,  in  about  a  year  after  his  marriage 
the  Duke  of  Tuscany  died,  and  Francis,  with  his  bride,  has- 
tened to  his  new  home  in  the  palaces  of  Leghorn.  Though  the 
duke  mourned  bitterly  over  the  loss  of  his  ancesti-al  domains, 
Tuscany  was  no  mean  inheritance.  The  duke  was  absolute 
monarch  of  the  duchy,  which  contained  about  eight  thousand 
square  miles  and  a  population  of  a  million.  The  revenues  of 
the  archduchy  were  some  four  millions  of  dollars.  The  army 
consisted  of  six  thousand  troops. 

Two  months  after  the  marriage  of  Maria  Theresa,  Prince 
Eugene  died  quietly  in  his  bed  at  the  age  of  seventy-three. 
He  Lad  passed  his  whole  lifetime  riding  over  fields  of  battle 
swept  by  bullets  and  plowed  by  shot.  He  had  always  ex- 
posed his  own  person  with  utter  recklessness,  leading  the 
charge,  and  being  the  first  to  enter  the  breach  or  climb  the 
rampart.  Though  often  wounded,  he  escaped  all  these  perils, 
and  breathed  his  last  in  peace  upon  his  pillow  in  Vienna. 

His  funeral  was  attended  with  regal  honors.     For  three 


CHABLB8    TI.  399 

days  the  corpse  lay  in  state,  with  the  coat  of  mail,  the  helmet 
and  the  gauntlets  which  the  warrior  had  worn  in  so  many 
fierce  battles,  suspended  over  bis  lifeless  remains.  His  heart 
was  sent  in  an  urn  to  be  deposited  in  the  royal  tomb  where 
his  ancestors  slumbered.  His  embalmed  body  was  interred  in 
the  metropolitan  church  in  Vienna.  The  emperor  and  all  the 
court  attended  the  funeral,  and  his  remains  were  borne  to  the 
grave  with  honors  rarely  conferred  upon  any  but  crowned 
heads. 

The  Ottoman  power  had  now  passed  its  culminating  point, 
and  was  evidently  on  the  wane.  The  Russian  empire  was  be- 
ginning to  aiTest  the  attention  of  Europe,  and  was  ambitions 
of  making  its  voice  heard  in  the  diplomacy  of  the  European 
•monarchies.  Being  destitute  of  any  sea  coast,  it  was  excluded 
from  all  commercial  intercourse  with  foreign  nations,  and  io 
its  cold,  northern  realm,  "  leaning,"  as  Napoleon  once  said, 
**  against  the  Noith  Pole,*'  seemed  to  be  shut  up  to  barbarism. 
It  had  been  a  leading  object  of  the  ambition  of  Peter  the  Great 
to  secure  a  mantime  port  for  his  kingdom.  He  at  first  at- 
tempted a  naval  depot  on  his  extreme  southern  border,  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Don,  on  the  sea  of  Azof.  This  would  open  to 
him  the  commerce  of  the  Mediterianean  through  the  Azof,  the 
Euxine  and  the  Marmoi*a.  But  the  assailing  Turks  drove  him 
from  these  shores,  and  he  was  compelled  to  surrender  the  for- 
tresses he  had  commenced  to  their  arms.  He  then  turned  to 
bis  western  fi*ontier,  and,  with  an  incredible  expenditure  of 
money  and  sacrifice  of  life,  reared  upon  the  marshes  of  the 
Baltic  the  imperial  city  of  St.  Petersburg.  Peter  I.  died  in 
1725,  leaving  the  crown  to  his  wife  Catharine.  She,  however, 
survived  hira  but  two  years,  when  she  died,  in  1727,  leaving 
two  daughters.  The  crown  then  passed  to  the  grandson  of 
Peter  I.,  a  boy  of  thirteen.  In  three  years  he  died  of  the 
small-pox.  Anna,  the  daughter  of  the  oldest  brother  of  Pe- 
ter I.,  now  ascended  the  throne,  and  reigned,  through  hei 
&vorites,  with  relentless  rigor. 


400  THE     HOUSE     OF      AUSTRIA. 

It  was  one  of  the  first  objects  of  Anna's  ambition  to  secure 
a  hai  boi  for  maritime  commerce  in  the  more  sunny  climes  of 
southern  Europe.  St.  Petersburg,  far  away  upon  the  fi-ozen 
shores  of  the  Baltic,  where  the  harbor  was  shut  up  with  ice 
for  five  months  in  the  year,  presented  but  a  cheerless  prospect 
for  the  formation  of  a  merchant  maiine.  She  accordingly  re- 
vived the  original  project  of  Peter  the  Great,  and  waged  war 
with  the  Turks  to  recover  the  lost  province  on  the  shores  of 
the  Euxine.  Russia  had  been  mainly  instrumental  in  placing 
Augustus  II.  on  the  throne  of  Poland  ;  Anna  was  consequently 
sure  of  his  sympathy  and  cooperation.  She  also  sent  to  Aus- 
tria to  secure  the  alliance  of  the  emperor.  Charles  YI.,  though 
his  army  was  in  a  state  of  decay  and  his  treasury  empty,  esu 
gerly  embarked  in  the  enterprise.  He  was  in  a  continued  state' 
of  appiehension  from  the  threatened  invasion  of  the  Turks. 
He  hoped  also,  aided  by  the  powerful  arm  of  Russia,  to  be 
able  to  gain  territories  in  the  east  which  would  afford  some 
compensation  for  his  enormous  losses  in  the  south  and  in  the 
west. 

While  negotiations  were  pending,  the  Russian  armies  were 
already  on  the  march.  They  took  Azof  after  a  siege  of  but  a 
foi'tuight,  and  then  overran  and  took  possession  of  the  whole 
Crimea,  driving  the  Turks  before  them.  Charles  VI.  was  a 
very  scrupulous  Roman  Catholic,  and  was  animated  to  the 
strife  by  the  declaration  of  his  confessor  that  it  was  his  duty, 
as  a  Christian  prince,  to  aid  in  extirpating  the  enemies  of  the 
Church  of  Christ.  The  Turks  were  greatly  alarmed  by  these 
successes  of  the  Russians,  and  by  the  formidable  preparations 
of  the  other  powers  allied  against  them. 

The  emperor  hoped  that  fortune,  so  long  adverse,  was  now 
turning  in  his  favor.  He  collected  a  large  force  on  the  ft'on- 
tiers  of  Turkey,  and  intrusted  the  command  to  General  Seck- 
endorf.  The  general  hastened  into  Hungary  to  the  rendezvous 
of  the  troops.  He  found  the  army  in  a  deplorable  condition. 
The  treasury  being  exhausted,  they  were  but  poorly  supplied 


THE     TURKISH     WAR     RENEWED,  401 

with  the  necessaries  of  war,  and  the  generals  and  contractora 
nad  contrived  to  appropiiate  to  themselves  most  of  the  funds 
which  had  been  furnished.  The  general  wrote  to  the  emperor, 
presenting  a  lamentable  picture  of  the  destitution  of  the  army. 

"  I  can  not,"  he  said,  "  consistently  with  my  duty  to  God 
and  the  emperor,  conceal  the  miserable  condition  of  the  bar. 
racks  and  the  hospitals.  The  troops,  crowded  together  with- 
out sufficient  bedding  to  cover  them,  are  a  prey  to  innumerable 
disorders,  and  are  exposed  tc  the  rain,  and  other  inclemencies 
of  the  weather,  from  the  dilapidated  state  of  the  caserns,  the 
roofs  of  which  are  in  perpetual  danger  of  being  overthrown  by 
the  wind.  All  the  frontier  fortresses,  and  even  Belgrade,  are 
incapable  of  the  smallest  resistance,  as  well  from  the  dilapidated 
state  of  the  fortifications  as  from  a  total  want  of  artillery,  am- 
munition and  other  requisites.  The  naval  armament  is  in  a 
state  of  ii'reparable  disorder.  Some  companies  of  my  regiment 
of  Belgrade  are  thrust  into  holes  where  a  man  would  not  put 
even  his  favorite  hounds ;  and  I  can  not  see  the  situation  of 
these  miserable  and  half-starved  wretches  without  tears.  These 
melancholy  circumstances  portend  the  loss  of  these  fine  king- 
doms with  the  same  rapidity  as  that  of  the  States  of  Italy." 

The  bold  commander-in-chief  also  declared  that  many  of 
the  generals  were  so  utterly  incapable  of  discharging  their  du- 
ties, that  nothing  could  be  anticipated,  under  their  guidance, 
but  defeat  and  ruin.  He  complained  that  the  governors  of 
those  distant  provinces,  quite  neglecting  the  responsibilities  of 
their  offices,  were  spending  their  time  in  hunting  and  other 
trivial  amusements.  These  remonstrances  roused  the  emperoi; 
and  decisive  reforms  were  undertaken.  The  main  plan  of  the 
campaign  was  for  the  Russians,  who  were  already  on  the  sliorea 
of  the  Black  sea,  to  press  on  to  the  mouth  of  the  Danube,  and 
then  to  march  up  the  stream.  The  Austiians  were  to  follow 
down  the  Danube  to  the  Turkish  province  of  Wallachia,  and 
then,  marching  through  the  heart  of  that  proinnce,  either 
effect  a  junction  with  the  Russians,  or  inclose  the  Turks  be- 


402  THE     HOUSE     OF     AUSTEIA. 

tween  the  two  armies.  At  the  same  time  a  large  Austrian 
force,  marching  through  Bosnia  and  Servia,  and  driving  tha 
Turks  out,  were  to  take  military  possession  of  those  countriefl 
and  join  the  main  army  in  its  union  on  the  lower  Danube. 

Matters  being  thus  arranged,  General  Seckendorf  took  the 
command  of  the  Austrian  troops,  with  the  assurance  that  he 
should  be  furnished  with  one  hundred  and  twenty-six  thou- 
sand men,  provided  with  all  the  implements  of  war,  and  that 
he  should  receive  a  monthly  remittance  of  one  million  two 
hundred  thousand  dollars  for  the  pay  of  the  troops.  The  em- 
peror, however,  found  it  much  easier  to  make  i^reraises  than 
to  fulfill  them.  The  month  of  August  bad  already  arrived 
and  Seckendorf,  notwithstanding  his  most  strenuous  exertions, 
had  assembled  at  Belgrade  but  thirty  thousand  infantry  and  fif^ 
teen  thousand  cavalry.  The  Turks,  with  extraordinary  energy, 
had  raised  a  much  more  formidable  and  a  better  equipped  army 
Just  as  Seckendorf  was  commencing  his  march,  having  mi 
nutely  arranged  all  the  stages  of  the  campaign,  to  his  surpnse 
and  indignation  he  received  orders  to  leave  the  valley  of  the 
Danube  and  march  directly  south  about  one  hundred  and  fifty 
miles  into  me  heart  of  Servia,  and  lay  siege  to  the  fortress  of 
Nissa.  The  whole  plan  of  the  campaign  was  thus  frustrated. 
Magazines,  at  great  expense,  had  been  established,  and  arrange- 
ments made  for  floating  the  heavy  baggage  down  the  stream. 
Now  the  troops  were  to  march  through  moi'asses  and  over 
mountains,  without  suitable  baggage  wagons,  and  with  no 
means  of  supplying  themselves  with  provisions  in  so  hostile 
and  inhospitable  a  country. 

But  the  command  of  the  emperor  was  not  to  be  disobeyed. 
For  twenty-eight  days  they  toiled  along,  encountering  innn- 
merable  impediments,  many  perishing  by  the  way,  until  they 
arrived,  in  a  state  of  extreme  exhaustion  and  destitution,  be. 
fore  the  walls  of  Nissa.  Fortunately  the  city  was  entirely  un- 
prepared for  an  attack,  which  had  not  been  at  all  anticipated, 
and  the  garrison  speedily  surrendered.    Here  Seckendorf  hav- 


TUB     TURKISH       (VAR      RENEWED.  408 

mg  dispatched  parties  to  seize  the  neighboring  fortress,  and 
the  passes  of  the  mountains,  waited  for  fUrther  orders  from 
Vienna,  The  army  were  so  dissatisfied  with  their  position  and 
their  hardships,  that  they  at  last  almost  rose  in  mutiny,  and 
Seckendorf,  having  accomplished  nothing  of  any  moment,  was 
compelled  to  retrace  his  steps  to  the  banks  of  the  Danube, 
where  he  arrived  on  the  16th  of  October.  Thus  the  campaign 
was  a  total  failure. 

Bitter  complaints  were  uttered  both  by  the  army  and  the 
nation.  The  emperor,  with  the  characteristic  injustice  of  an 
ignoble  mind,  attributed  the  unfortunate  campaign  to  the  inca- 
pacity of  Seckendorf,  whose  judicious  plans  he  had  so  ruth- 
lessly thwarted.  The  heroic  general  was  immediately  dis- 
graced and  recalled,  and  the  command  of  the  army  given  to 
General  Philippi.  The  friends  of  General  Seckendorf,  aware 
of  his  peril,  urged  him  to  seek  safety  in  flight.  But  he,  em- 
boldened by  conscious  innocence,  obeyed  the  imperial  com- 
mands and  repaired  to  Vienna.  Seckendorf  was  a  Protestant. 
His  appointment  to  the  supreme  command  gave  great  offense 
to  the  Catholics,  and  the  priests,  fi-om  their  pulpits,  inveighed 
loudly  against  him  as  a  heretic,  whom  God  could  not  bless. 
They  arraigned  his  appointment  as  impious,  and  declared  that, 
in  consequence,  nothing  was  to  be  expected  but  divine  indigna- 
tion. Immediately  upon  his  arrival  in  Vienna  the  emperor 
ordered  his  arrest.  A  strong  guard  was  placed  over  him,  in 
his  own  house,  and  articles  of  impeachment  were  drawn  up 
against  him.  His  doom  was  sealed.  Every  misadventure  was 
attributed  to  negligence,  cupidity  or  treachery.  He  could 
offer  no  defense  which  would  be  of  any  avail,  for  he  was  not 
permitted  to  exhibit  the  orders  he  had  received  from  the  em- 
peror, lest  the  emperor  himself  should  be  proved  guilty  of 
those  disasters  which  he  was  thus  dishonorably  endeavoring 
to  throw  upon  another.  The  unhappy  Seckendorf,  thus  made 
the  victim  of  the  faults  of  others,  was  condenmed  to  the  dun- 
geon.    He  was  sent  to  imprisonment  in  the  castle  of  Glatz, 


404  THE     HOUSE     OF     AU8TBIA. 

where  he  lingered  in  captivity  for  many  years  until  the  death 

of  the  emperor. 

Charles  now,  in  accordance  with  the  clamor  of  the  priests, 
removed  all  Protestants  from  command  in  the  army  and  sup- 
plied their  places  with  Catholics.  The  Duke  of  Lorraine,  who 
had  recently  married  Maria  Theresa,  was  appointed  generalis- 
simo. But  as  the  duke  was  young,  inexperienced  in  war,  and, 
as  yet,  had  displayed  none  of  that  peculiar  talent  requisite  for 
the  guidance  of  armies,  the  emperor  placed  next  to  hira,  as 
the  acting  commander,  Marshal  Konigsegg.  The  emperor 
also  gave  orders  that  every  important  movement  should  be 
directed  by  a  council  of  war,  and  that  in  case  of  a  tie  the  cast- 
ing vote  shoald  be  given,  not  by  the  Duke  of  Lorraine,  but  by 
the  veteran  commander  Konigsegg.  The  cluke  was  an  exceed- 
ingly amiable  man,  of  very  courtly  manners  and  winning  ad- 
dress. He  was  scholarly  in  his  tastes,  and  not  at  all  fond  of 
the  hardships  of  war,  with  its  exposure,  tatigue  and  butchery. 
Though  a  man  of  perhaps  more  than  ordinary  intellectual 
power,  he  was  easily  depressed  by  adversity,  and  not  calcu- 
lated to  brave  the  fierce  storms  of  disaster. 

Early  in  March  the  Turks  opened  the  campaign  by  send- 
ing an  army  of  twenty  thousand  men  to  besiege  Orsova,  an 
important  fortress  on  an  island  of  the  Danube,  about  one  hun- 
dred miles  below  Belgrade.  They  planted  their  batteries  uptm 
both  the  northern  and  the  southern  banks  of  the  Danube,  and 
opened  a  storm  of  shot  and  shell  upon  the  fortress.  The  Duke 
of  Lorraine  hastened  to  the  relief  of  the  important  post,  which 
quite  commanded  that  portion  of  the  stream.  The  imperial 
troops  pressed  on  until  they  arrived  within  a  few  miles  of  the 
fortress.  The  Turks  marched  to  meet  them,  and  plunged  into 
their  camp  with  great  fierceness.  After  a  short  but  desperate 
conflict,  the  Turks  were  repulsed,  and  retreating  in  a  panic, 
they  broke  up  their  camp  before  the  walls  of  Orsova  and 
retired. 

This  slight  success,  after  so  many  disasters,  caused  im 


THE    TUEKI8H     WAE     BENEWHD.  40fl 

mense  exultation.  The  Duke  of  Lorraine  was  lauded  as  one 
of  the  greatest  generals  of  the  age.  The  pulpits  rang  with 
bis  praises,  and  it  was  announced  that  now,  that  the  troops 
wero  placed  under  a  true  child  of  the  Church,  Providence 
might  be  expected  to  smile.  Soon,  however,  the  impei-ial 
array,  while  incautiously  passing  through  a  defile,  was  as- 
sailed by  a  strong  force  of  the  Turks,  and  compelled  to  re- 
treat, having  lost  three  thousand  men.  The  Turks  resumed 
the  siege  of  Orsova;  and  the  Duke  of  Lorraine,  quite  dis- 
heartened, returned  to  Vienna,  leaving  the  command  of  the 
army  to  Konigsegg.  The  Turks  soon  captured  the  fortress, 
and  then,  ascending  the  river,  drove  the  imperial  troops  before 
them  to  Belgrade.  The  Turks  invested  the  city,  and  the 
beleaguered  troops  were  rapidly  swept  away  by  famine  and 
pestilence.  The  imperial  cavalry,  crossing  the  Save,  rapidly 
continued  their  retreat.  Konigsegg  was  now  recalled  in  dis- 
grace, as  incapable  of  conducting  the  war,  and  the  command 
was  given  to  General  Kevenhuller.  He  was  equally  unsuc- 
cessful in  resisting  the  foe ;  and,  after  a  series  of  indecisive 
battles,  the  storms  of  November  drove  both  parties  to  winter 
quarters,  and  another  campaign  was  fiiiished.  The  Russians 
had  also  fought  some  fierce  battles ;  but  their  campaign  waa 
as  inefiective  as  that  of  the  Austrians. 

The  court  of  Vienna  was  now  in  a  state  of  utter  confusion. 
There  was  no  leading  mind  to  assume  any  authority,  and  there 
was  irremediable  discordance  of  counsel.  The  Duke  of  Lor 
raine  was  in  hopeless  disgrace ;  even  the  emperor  assenting  to 
the  universal  cry  against  him.  In  a  state  almost  of  distrac- 
tion the  emperor  exclaimed,  "  Is  the  fortune  of  my  empire 
departed  with  Eugene  ?"  The  disgraceful  retreat  to  Belgrade 
seemed  to  haunt  him  day  and  night ;  and  he  repeated  again 
and  again  to  himself,  as  he  paced  the  floor  of  his  apai-tmeat, 
*'  that  unfortunate,  that  fatal  retreat."  Disasters  had  been  so 
rapidly  accumulating  upon  him,  that  he  feared  for  every  thing. 
He   expressed  the  greatest  anxiety  lest  his  daughter,  Maria 


406  THK     HOUSE    OF    AUSTBIA. 

Theresa,  who  was  to  succeed  him  upon  the  throne,  might  be 
intercepted,  in  the  case  of  his  sudden  death,  from  returning 
to  Austria,  and  excluded  from  the  throne.  The  emperor  was 
in  a  state  of  mind  nearly  bordering  upon  insanity. 

At  length  the  sun  of  another  spring  returned,  the  spring 
of  1739,  and  the  recruited  araiies  were  prepared  again  to  take 
the  field.  The  emperor  placed  a  new  commander,  Marshal 
Wallis,  in  command  of  the  Austrian  troops.  He  was  a  man 
of  ability,  but  overbearing  and  morose,  being  described  by  a 
contemporary  as  one  who  hated  everybody,  and  who  was 
hated  by  everybody  in  return.  Fifty  miles  north  of  Bel- 
grade, on  the  south  bank  of  the  Danube,  is  the  fortified  town 
of  Peterwardein,  so  called  as  the  rendezvous  where  Peter  the 
Hei-mit  marshaled  the  soldiers  of  the  first  crusade.  This  for- 
tress had  long  been  esteemed  one  of  the  strongest  of  the 
Austrian  empire.  It  was  appointed  as  the  rendezvous  of  the 
imperial  troops,  and  aU  the  energies  of  the  now  exhausted 
empire  were  expended  in  gathering  there  as  large  a  force  as 
possible.  But,  notwithstanding  the  utmost  efibrts,  in  May 
but  thirty  thousand  men  were  assembled,  and  these  but  very 
poorly  provided  with  the  costly  necessaries  of  war.  Another 
auxiliary  force  of  ten  thousand  men  was  collected  at  Temes- 
war,  a  strong  fortress  twenty-five  miles  north  of  Peterwardein. 
With  these  forces  Wallis  was  making  preparations  to  attempt 
to  recover  Orsova  from  the  Turks,  when  he  received  positive 
orders  to  engage  the  enemy  with  his  whole  force  on  the  first 
opportunity. 

The  army  marched  down  the  banks  of  the  river,  cwivey. 
ing  its  baggage  and  heavy  artillery  in  a  flotilla  to  Belgrade, 
where  it  arrived  on  the  11th  of  June.  Here  they  were  in 
formed  that  the  Turkish  army  was  about  twenty  miles  below 
on  the  river  at  Crotzka.  The  imperial  army  was  immediately 
pressed  forward,  in  accordance  with  the  emperor's  orders,  to 
attack  the  foe.  The  Turks  were  strongly  posted,  and  far 
exceeded  the  Austrians  in  number.     At  five  o'clock  on  the 


THE    TTTBKIBH     WAR     RKNKWKD.  407 

morning  of  the  2l8t  of  July  the  battle  commenced,  and  blazed 
fiercely  through  all  the  hours  of  the  day  until  the  sun  went 
down.  Seven  thousand  Austrians  were  then  dead  upon  the 
plain.  The  Turks  were  preparing  to  renew  the  conflict  in  the 
morning,  when  Wallis  ordered  a  retreat,  which  was  securely 
effected  during  the  darkness  of  the  night.  On  the  ensuing 
day  the  Turks  pursued  them  to  the  walls  of  Belgrade,  and, 
driving  them  across  the  river,  ojjened  the  fire  of  their  bat- 
teiies  upon  the  city.  The  Turks  commenced  the  siege  in 
form,  and  were  so  powerful,  that  Wallis  could  do  nothing  to 
retard  their  opeiations.  A  breach  was  ere  long  made  in  one 
of  the  bastions ;  an  assault  was  hourly  expected  which  the 
garrison  was  in  no  condition  to  repel,  Wallis  sent  word  to 
the  emperor  that  the  surrender  of  Belgrade  was  inevitable  ; 
that  it  was  necessary  immediately  to  retreat  to  Peterwardein, 
and  that  the  Turks,  flushed  with  victory,  might  soon  be  at 
the  gates  of  Vienna. 

Great  was  the  consternation  which  pervaded  the  court  and 
the  capital  upon  the  reception  of  these  tidings.  The  ministers 
all  began  to  criminate  each  other.  The  general  voice  clamored 
for  peace  upon  almost  any  terms.  The  emperor  alone  re- 
mained firm.  He  dispatched  another  officer,  General  Schmet- 
tan,  to  hasten  with  all  expedition  to  the  imperial  camp,  and 
prevent,  if  possible,  the  impending  disaster.  He  earnestly 
pressed  the  hand  of  the  general  as  he  took  his  leave,  and  said — 

"  Use  the  utmost  diligence  to  arrive  before  the  retreat  of 
the  army  ;  assume  the  defense  of  Belgrade,  and  save  it,  if  not 
too  late,  fiom  falling  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy." 

The  energy  of  Schmettan  arrested  the  retreat  of  Wallis, 
and  revived  the  desponding  hopes  of  the  garrison  of  Belgrade. 
Bastion  afl;er  bastion  was  recovered.  The  Turks  were  driven 
back  from  the  advance  posts  they  had  occupied.  A  new  spirit 
animated  the  whole  Austrian  army,  and  from  the  depths  of 
despair  they  were  rising  to  sanguine  hopes  of  rictory,  when 
the  stunning  news  arrived  that  the  emperor  had  sent  an  envoy 

R 


408  THB     HOnSS     OF     AUSTBIA. 

to  the  Turkish  camp,  and  had  obtained  peace  by  the  surrender 
of  Belgrade.  Count  Neuperg  having  received  ftiU  powers 
from  the  emperor  to  treat,  very  imprudently  entered  the 
oamp  of  the  barbaric  Turk,  without  requiring  any  hostages  for 
his  safety.  The  barbarians,  regardless  of  the  flag  of  truce,  and 
of  all  the  rules  of  civilized  warfare,  arrested  Count  Neuperg, 
and  put  him  under  guard.  He  was  then  conducted  into  the 
presence  of  the  grand  vizier,  who  was  arrayed  in  state,  sur- 
rounded by  his  bashaws.  The  grand  vizier  haughtily  de- 
manded the  terms  Neuperg  was  authorized  to  offer. 

"  The  emperor,  my  master,"  said  Neuperg,  "  has  intrusted 
me  with  full  powers  to  negotiate  a  peace,  and  is  willing,  for 
the  sake  of  peace,  to  cede  the  province  of  Wallachia  to  Tur 
key  provided  the  fortress  of  Orsova  be  dismantled." 

The  grand  vizier  rose,  came  forward,  and  deliberately  spit 
in  the  face  of  the  Count  Neuperg,  and  exclaimed, 

"  Infidel  dog !  thou  provest  thyself  a  spy,  with  all  thy 
powers.  Since  thou  hast  brought  no  letter  from  the  Vizier 
Wallis,  and  hast  concealed  his  offer  to  surrender  Belgrade, 
thou  shalt  be  sent  to  Constantinople  to  receive  the  punishment 
thoa  deservest." 

Count  Neuperg,  after  this  insult,  was  conducted  into  close 
confinement.  The  French  ambassador,  Villeneuve,  now  ar- 
rived. He  had  adopted  the  precaution  of  obtaining  hostages 
before  intrusting  himself  in  the  hands  of  the  Turks.  The 
grand  vizier  would  not  listen  to  any  terms  of  accommodation 
but  upon  the  basis  of  the  surrender  of  Belgrade.  The  Turks 
carried  their  point  in  every  thing.  The  emperor  surrendered 
Belgrade,  relinquished  to  them  Orsova,  agreed  to  demolish  all 
the  fortresses  of  his  own  province  of  Media,  and  ceded  to  Tur- 
key Servia  and  various  other  contiguous  districts.  It  was  a 
humiliating  treaty  for  Austria.  Already  despoiled  in  Italy  and 
on  the  Rhine,  the  emperor  was  now  compelled  to  abandon  to 
the  Turks  extensive  territories  and  important  fortresses  upon 
the  lower  Danube. 


THB     TUEKISH     WAB     EKNEWED.  409 

General  Schmettan,  totally  unconscious  of  these  proceed- 
ings, was  conducting  the  defense  of  Belgrade  with  great  vigor 
and  with  great  success,  when  he  was  astounded  by  the  arrival 
of  a  courier  in  his  camp,  presenting  to  him  the  following  laconic 
note  from  Count  Neuperg : 

"  Peace  was  signed  this  morning  between  the  emperor, 
our  master,  and  the  Porte.  Let  hostilities  cease,  therefore,  on 
the  receipt  of  this.  In  half  an  hour  I  shall  follow,  and  an- 
nounce the  particulars  myself." 

General  Schmettan  could  hardly  repress  his  indignation, 
and,  when  Count  Neuperg  arrived,  intreated  that  the  surren- 
der of  Belgrade  might  be  postponed  until  the  terms  had  been 
sent  to  the  emperor  for  his  ratification.  But  Neuperg  would 
listen  to  no  such  suggestions,  and,  indignant  that  any  obstacle 
should  be  thrown  in  the  way  of  the  fulfillment  of  the  treaty, 
menacingly  said, 

"  If  you  choose  to  disobey  the  orders  of  the  emperor,  and 
to  delay  the  execution  of  the  article  relative  to  Belgrade,  I 
will  instantly  dispatch  a  courier  to  Vienna,  and  eharge  you 
with  all  the  misfortunes  which  may  result.  I  had  great  difl5- 
culty  in  diverting  the  grand  vizier  from  the  demand  of  Sirmia, 
Sclavonia  and  the  bannat  of  Temeswar ;  and  when  I  have  dis- 
patched a  courier,  I  will  return  into  the  Turkish  camp  and 
protest  against  this  violation  of  the  treaty." 

General  Schmettan  was  compelled  to  yield.  Eight  hun- 
dred janissaries  took  possession  of  one  of  the  gates  of  the 
city ;  and  the  Turkish  officers  roJe  triumphantly  into  the 
streets,  waving  before  them  in  defiance  the  banners  they  had 
taken  at  Crotzka.  The  new  fortifications  were  blown  up,  and 
the  imperial  army,  in  grief  and  shame,  retired  up  the  river  to 
Peterwardein,  They  had  hardly  evacuated  the  city  ere  Count 
Neuperg,  to  his  inexpressible  mortification,  received  a  lettei 
from  the  emperor  stating  that  nothing  could  reconcile  him  tc 
the  idea  of  surrendering  Belgrade  but  the  conviction  that  its 
defense  was  utterly  hope. ess;  but  that  learning  that  this  was 


410  THE     HOUSE     OF     AUSTRIA. 

by  no  means  the  case,  he  intreated  Mm  on  no  account  to  think 
of  the  surrendex'  of  the  city.  To  add  to  the  chagrin  of  the 
count,  he  also  ascertained,  at  the  same  time,  that  the  Turks 
were  in  such  a  deplorable  condition  that  they  were  just  on  the 
point  of  retreating,  and  would  gladly  have  purchased  peace  at 
almost  any  sacrifice.  A  little  more  diplomatic  skill  might  have 
wrested  from  the  Turks  even  a  larger  extent  of  territory  than 
the  emperor  had  so  foolishly  surrendered  to  them. 


CHAPTER    XXVI. 

MARIA    THERESA. 
Fboh  1739  TO  174L 

ImoctBB  or  THB  Kma.— Lkttbb  to  thb  Quben  of  Bitssia.— Thb  impbbial  OnoTrLAa. 
— Dkploeablk  Condition  of  Austria.— Death  op  Ouaeles  VI.— Aoobssion  of 
Maeia  Thbebsa.— Vigobous  Mbasubes  of  the  Queen.— Claim  or  the  Duke  of 
Bataria. — Responses  fbom  the  Courts. -Coldness  of  the  Fbbnoh  Court.— Pebd- 
beioof  Prussia.— His  Invasion  of  Silesia.— March  of  the  Austbians.— Battlh 
of  Molnitz.— Fibmnbss  of  Maria  Theresa.— Pboposkd  Division  op  Plunder.- 

ViLLAINT  of  FbBDEBIC. — INTERVIEW  WITH  THbKiNQ. — CHARACTER  OF  FrHDEBIO. — 

Oomhencehbnt  of  thb  eBNBRAL  Invasion. 

EVERY  intelligent  man  in  Austria  felt  degraded  by  the 
peace  which  had  been  made  with  the  Turks.  The  tid- 
ings were  received  throughout  the  ranks  of  the  array  with  a 
general  outburst  of  grief  and  indignation.  The  troops  intreated 
their  officers  to  lead  them  against  the  foe,  declaring  that  they 
would  speedily  drive  the  Turks  from  Belgrade,  which  had 
been  so  ignominiously  surrendered.  The  populace  of  Vienna 
rose  in  insurrection,  and  would  have  torn  down  the  houses  of 
the  ministers  who  had  recommended  the  peace  but  for  the  in- 
terposition of  the  military.  The  emperor  was  almost  beside 
tiimself  with  anguish.  He  could  not  appease  the  clamors  of 
the  nation.  He  was  also  in  allianoe  with  Russia,  and  knew  not 
how  to  meet  the  reproaches  of  the  court  of  St.  Petersburg  for 
ftaving  so  needlessly  surrendered  the  most  important  fortress 
on  the  Turkish  frontier.  In  an  interview  which  he  held  with 
the  Russian  ambassador  his  embarrassment  was  painftil  to  wit- 
ness. To  the  Queen  of  Russia  he  wrote  in  terras  expressive 
of  the  extreme  agony  of  his  mind,  and,  with  characteristic 
want  of  magnanimity  cast  the  blame  of  the  very  measures  he 


412  THE     HOUSE      OF      AUSTRIA, 

had  ordered  upon  the  agents  who  had  merely  executed  hit 
will. 

"  While  I  am  writing  this  letter,"  he  said,  **  to  your  im- 
perial majesty,  my  heart  is  filled  with  the  most  excessive  grief. 
I  was  much  less  touched  with  the  advantages  gained  by  the 
enemy  and  the  Lews  of  the  siege  of  Belgrade,  than  with  tha 
advice  I  have  received  concerning  the  shameful  preliminary 
articles  concluded  by  Count  Neuperg. 

"  The  history  of  past  ages  exhibits  no  vestiges  of  such  an 
event.  I  was  on  the  point  of  preventing  the  fatal  and  too 
hasty  execution  of  these  preliminaries,  when  I  heard  that  they 
were  already  partly  executed,  even  before  the  design  had  been 
communicated  to  me.  Thus  I  see  my  hands  tied  by  those  who 
ought  to  glory  in  obeying  me.  All  who  have  approached  me 
since  that  fatal  day,  are  so  many  witnesses  of  the  excess  of 
my  grief.  Although  I  have  many  times  experienced  adver- 
sity, I  never  was  so  much  afflicted  as  by  this  event.  Your 
majesty  has  a  right  to  complain  of  some  who  ought  to  have 
obeyed  my  orders ;  but  I  had  no  part  in  what  they  have  done. 
Though  all  the  forces  of  the  Ottoman  empire  were  turned 
against  me  I  was  not  disheartened,  but  still  did  all  in  my  power 
for  the  common  cause.  I  shall  not,  however,  fail  to  perform 
in  due  time  what  avenging  justice  requires.  In  this  dismal 
series  of  misfortunes  I  have  still  one  comfort  left,  which  is  that 
the  fault  can  not  be  thrown  upon  me.  It  lies  entirely  on  such 
of  my  officers  as  ratified  the  disgracefiil  preliminaries  without 
my  knowledge,  against  my  consent,  and  even  contrary  to  my 
express  orders." 

This  apologetic  letter  was  followed  by  a  circular  to  all  the 
Hnperial  ambassadors  in  the  various  courts  of  Europe,  which 
circular  was  filled  with  the  bitterest  denunciation  of  Couue 
Neuperg  and  Marshal  Wallis.  It  declared  that  the  emperor 
was  not  in  any  way  implicated  in  the  shameful  surrender  of 
Belgrade.  The  marshal  and  the  count,  thus  assailed  and  Iield 
up  to  the  scorn  and  execration  of  Europe,  ventured  to  reply 


tfARIA     THERESA.  418 

£liat  they  had  strictly  conformed  to  their  instructions.  The 
common  sense  of  the  community  taught  them  that,  in  so  rigor- 
ous and  punctilious  a  court  as  that  of  Vienna,  no  agent  of  the 
emperor  would  dare  to  act  contrary  to  his  received  instruc- 
tions. Thus  the  infamous  attempts  of  Charles  to  brand  his 
officers  with  ignominy  did  but  rebound  upon  himself.  The 
almost  universal  voice  condemned  the  emperor  and  acquitted 
the  plenipotentiaries. 

While  the  emperor  was  thus  filling  all  the  courts  of  Europe 
with  his  clamor  against  Count  Neuperg,  declaring  that  he  had 
exceeded  his  powers  and  that  he  deserved  to  be  hung,  he  at 
the  same  time,  with  almost  idiotic  fatuity,  sent  the  same  Count 
Neuperg  back  to  the  Turkish  camp  to  settle  some  items  which 
yet  required  adjustment.  This  proved,  to  every  mind,  the  in- 
fflncerity  of  Charles.  The  Russians,  thus  forsaken  by  Austria, 
also  made  peace  with  the  Turks.  They  consented  to  demolish 
their  fortress  of  Azof,  to  relinquish  all  pretensions  to  the  right 
of  navigating  the  Black  sea,  and  to  allow  a  vast  extent  of  ter- 
ritory upon  its  northern  shores  to  remain  an  uninhabited  des- 
ert, as  a  barrier  between  Russia  and  Turkey,  The  treaty 
being  definitively  settled,  both  Marshal  Wallis  and  Count 
Neuperg  were  arrested  and  sent  to  prison,  where  they  were 
detained  until  the  death  of  Charles  VI. 

Care  and  sorrow  were  now  hurrying  the  emperor  to  the 
grave.  Wan  and  haggard  he  moved  about  his  palace,  mourn- 
ing his  doom,  and  complaining  that  it  was  his  destiny  to  be 
disappointed  in  every  cherished  plan  of  his  life.  All  his  affairs 
were  in  inextricable  confusion,  and  his  empire  seemed  crumb- 
BDg  to  decay.  A  cotemporary  writer  thus  describes  the  situa- 
tion of  the  court  and  the  nation  j 

"  Every  thing  in  this  court  is  running  hito  the  last  confU- 
edon  and  ruin ;  where  there  are  as  visible  signs  of  folly  and 
madness,  as  ever  were  inflicted  upon  a  people  whom  Heaven 
is  determined  to  destroy,  no  less  by  domestic  divisions,  than  hy 
the  more  public  calamities  of  repeated  defeats,  defenselessness, 
poverty  and  plagues." 


414  THE     HOUSE     OF     AUSTRIA. 

Early  in  October,  1740,  the  emperor,  restless,  anci  feverWi 
in  body  and  mind,  repaired  to  ODe  of  his  country  palaces  a  f&m 
miles  distant  from  \rienna.  The  season  was  prematurely  odd 
and  gloomy,  with  frost  and  storms  of  sleet.  In  conseqaeD<M 
of  a  chill  the  enfeebled  monarch  was  seized  with  an  attack  of 
the  gout,  which  was  followed  by  a  very  severe  fit  of  the  coUg. 
The  night  of  the  10th  of  October  he  writhed  in  p^n  upon  hu 
bed,  while  repeated  vomitings  weakened  his  already  exhausted 
fi*ame.  The  next  day  he  was  conveyed  to  Vienna,  but  in  suck 
extreme  debility  that  he  tinted  several  times  in  his  carriage 
by  the  way.  Almost  in  a  state  of  insensibility  he  was  caniedl 
to  the  retired  palace  of  La  Favourite  in  the  vicinity  of  Vieno% 
and  placed  in  his  bed.  It  was  soon  evident  that  his  stormf 
life  was  now  drawing  near  to  its  close.  Patiently  he  bore  bit 
severe  sufferings,  and  as  his  physicians  were  miable  to  agras 
respecting  the  nature  of  his  disease,  he  said  to  them,  oalmly, 

"Cease  your  disputes.  I  shall  soon  be  dead.  You  cm 
then  open  my  body  and  ascertain  the  cause  of  my  death.** 

Priests  were  admitted  to  his  chamber  who  performed  the 
last  offices  of  the  Church  for  the  dying.  With  perfect  com- 
posure, he  made  all  the  arrangements  relative  to  the  suooessioa 
to  the  throne.  One  after  another  the  members  of  his  &milj 
were  introduced,  and  he  affectionately  bade  them  adieu,  giv- 
ing to  each  appropriate  words  of  counseL  To  his  daoghter, 
JCaria  Theresa,  who  was  not  present,  and  who  was  to  soooeed 
lum,  he  sent  bis  earnest  blessing.  With  the  Duke  of  Lorraine, 
her  hnsband,  he  had  a  private  interview  of  two  hoars.  On 
the  20th  of  October,  1740,  at  two  o'clock  in  the  morning,  hi 
died,  in  the  fifty-sixth  year  of  his  age,  and  the  tbiitieth  of  his 
reign.  Weary  of  the  world,  he  willingly  retired  to  the  aotios- 
pated  repose  of  the  grave. 

••  To  die,— to  sleep  j— 

To  sleep  I  perchance  to  dream ; — ay,  there's  the  rob; 
For  in  that  sleep  of  death  what  dreama  may  ccnw^ 
When  we  have  shuJQQed  off  tbia  mcnrtal  ooil. 
Must  give  OS  pausa" 


MARIA     THERESA.  4IA 

By  the  death  of  Charles  VI.  the  male  line  of  the  house  of 
Hapsburg  became  extiuct,  after  having  continued  in  un  inter 
rupted  succession  for  over  four  hundred  years.  His  eldest 
daughter,  Maria  Theresa,  who  now  succeeded  to  the  crown  of 
Austria,  was  twenty-four  years  of  age.  Her  figure  was  tall, 
graceful  and  commanding.  Her  features  were  beautiful,  and 
her  smile  sweet  and  winning.  She  was  born  to  command, 
combining  in  her  character  woman's  power  of  fascination  with 
man's  energy.  Though  so  far  advanced  in  jjregnancy  that  she 
was  not  permitted  to  see  her  dying  father,  the  very  day  after 
his  death  she  so  rallied  her  energies  as  to  give  an  audience  to 
the  minister  of  state,  and  to  assume  the  government  with  that 
marvelous  vigor  which  characterized  her  whole  reign. 

Seldom  has  a  kingdom  been  in  a  more  deplorable  condition 
than  was  Austria  on  the  morning  when  the  scepter  passed  into 
the  hands  of  Maria  Theresa.  There  were  not  forty  thousand 
dollars  in  the  treasury ;  the  state  was  enormously  in  debt ;  the 
whole  army  did  not  amount  to  more  than  thirty  thousand  men, 
widely  dispersed,  clamoring  for  want  of  pay,  and  almost  en- 
tirely destitute  of  the  "materials  for  war.  The  vintage  had 
been  cut  off  by  the  frost,  producing  great  distress  in  the  coun- 
try. There  was  a  famine  in  Vienna,  and  many  were  starving 
lor  want  of  food.  The  peasants,  in  the  neighborhood  of  the 
metropolis,  were  rising  in  insurrection,  ravaging  the  fields  in 
search  of  game ;  while  rumors  were  industriously  circulated 
that  the  government  was  dissolved,  that  the  succession  was 
disputed,  and  that  the  Duke  of  Bavaria  was  on  the  march, 
with  an  army,  to  claim  the  crown.  The  distant  provinces  w 
anxious  to  shake  off  the  Austrian  yoke.  Bohemia  was  agi- 
tated ;  and  the  restless  barons  of  Hungary  were  upon  the 
point  of  grasping  their  arms,  and,  under  the  protection  of  Tur- 
key, i£  claiming  their  ancestral  hereditary  rights.  Notwith- 
standing the  untiring  endeavors  of  the  emperor  to  obtain  the 
cssent  of  Europe  to  the  Pragmatic  Sanction,  many  influential 
COmts  refused  to  recognize  the  right  of  Maria  Theresa  to  the 


416  THE    HOUSB    OP    AUSTRIA 

crown.  The  ministers  were  desponding,  irresolute  and  inca* 
pable.  Maria  Theresa  was  young,  quite  inexperienced  and  in 
delicate  health,  being  upon  the  eve  of  her  confinement.  The 
English  ambassador,  describing  the  state  of  affairs  in  Vienna 
as  they  appeared  to  him  at  this  time,  wrote : 

"To  the  ministers,  the  Turks  seem  to  be  already  in  Hun« 
gary ;  the  Hungarians  in  insurrection ;  the  Bohemians  in  opeo 
revolt ;  the  Duke  of  Bavaria,  with  his  army,  at  the  gates  of 
Vienna ;  and  France  the  soul  of  all  these  movements.  The 
ministers  were  not  only  in  despair,  but  that  despair  even  waa 
not  capable  of  rousing  them  to  any  desperate  exertions.** 

Maria  Theresa  immediately  dispatched  couriers  to  inform 
the  northern  powers  of  her  accession  to  the  crown,  and  troops 
were  forwarded  to  the  frontiers  to  prevent  any  hostile  invasion 
from  Bavaria.  The  Duke  of  Bavaria  claimed  the  Austrian 
crown  in  vhtue  of  the  will  of  Ferdinand  I.,  which,  he  afl^med, 
devised  the  crown  to  his  daughters  and  their  descendants  in 
case  of  the  failure  of  the  male  line.  As  the  male  line  was  now 
extinct,  by  this  decree  the  scepter  would  pass  to  the  Duke  of 
Bavaria.  Charles  VI.  had  foreseen  ttis  claim,  and  endeavored 
to  set  it  aside  by  the  declaration  that  the  clause  referred  to 
in  the  will  of  Ferdinand  I.  had  reference  to  legitimate  heirs^ 
not  male  merely,  and  that,  consequently,  it  did  not  set  aside 
female  descendants.  In  proof  of  this,  Maria  Theresa  had  the 
will  exhibited  to  all  the  leading  officers  of  state,  and  to  the 
foreign  ambassadors.  It  appeared  that  legitimate  heirs  was 
the  phrase.  And  now  the  question  hinged  upon  the  point, 
whether  females  were  legitimate  heirs.  In  some  kingdoms 
of  Europe  they  were ;  in  others  they  were  not.  In  Austria 
the  custom  had  been  variable.  Here  was  a  nicely-balanced 
question,  sufficiently  momentous  to  divide  Europe,  and  which 
might  put  all  the  armies  of  the  continent  in  motion.  There 
were  also  other  claimants  for  the  crown,  but  none  who  could 
present  so  plausible  a  plea  as  that  of  the  Duke  of  Bavaria. 

Maria  Tlieresa  now  waited  with  great  anxiety  for  the  reply 


MARIA     THBBBSA.  417 

rfie  shonid  receive  from  the  foreign  powers  whom  sLe  had 
notified  of  her  accessiou.  The  Duke  of  Bavaria  was  equally 
active  and  solicitous,  and  it  was  quite  uncertain  whose  claim 
would  be  supported  by  the  surrounding  courts.  The  first 
response  came  from  Prussia.  The  king  sent  his  congratu- 
lations, and  acknowledged  the  title  of  Maria  Theresa.  This 
wras  followed  by  a  letter  from  Augustus  of  Poland,  containing 
iJie  same  friendly  recognition.  Russia  then  sent  in  assurances 
of  cordial  support.  The  King  of  England  returned  a  friendly 
answer,  promising  cooperation.  All  this  was  cheering.  But 
France  was  then  the  great  power  on  the  continent,  and 
could  carry  with  her  one  half  of  Europe  in  almost  any  cause. 
The  response  was  looked  for  from  France  with  great  anxiety. 
Day  after  day,  week  after  week  passed,  and  no  response  came. 
At  length  the  French  Seci'etary  of  State  gave  a  cautious  and 
merely  verbal  declaration  of  the  friendly  disposition  of  the 
French  court.  Cardinal  Fleury,  the  illustrious  French  Secre- 
tary of  State,  was  cold,  formal  and  excessively  polite.  Maria 
Theresa  at  once  inferred  that  France  withheld  her  acknowl- 
edgment, merely  waiting  for  a  favorable  opportunity  to  recog- 
nize the  claims  of  the  Duke  of  Bavaria. 

While  matters  were  in  this  state,  to  the  surpiise  of  all, 
Frederic,  King  of  Prussia,  drew  his  sword,  and  demanded 
large  and  indefinite  portions  of  Austria  to  be  annexed  to  his 
territories.  Disdaining  all  appeal  to  any  documentary  evidence, 
and  scorning  to  reply  to  any  questionings  as  to  his  light,  be 
demanded  vast  provinces,  as  a  highwayman  demands  one's 
purse,  with  the  pistol  at  hb  breast.  This  fiery  young  prmce, 
inheriting  the  most  magnificent  army  in  Europe,  considering 
its  discipline  and  equipments,  was  determined  to  display  his 
gallantry  as  a  fighter,  with  Europe  for  the  arena.  As  he  was 
looking  about  to  find  some  suitable  foe  against  which  he  could 
hurl  bis  seventy-five  thousand  men,  the  defenseless  yet  large 
and  opulent  duchy  of  Silesia  presented  itself  as  a  glittering 
prize  worth  the  claiming  by  a  royal  highwayman. 


418  TBS     BOUSB     OF     AUSTRIA. 

The  AuRtrian  province  of  Silesia  bordered  a  portion  of 
Prussia  While  treacherously  {Nrofessing  friendship  with  the 
court  of  Vienna,  with  great  secrecy  and  sagacity  Frederic  as* 
genibled  a  large  force  of  bis  best  troops  in  the  vicinity  of  Bei^ 
lin,  and  in  mid- winter,  when  the  snow  lay  deep  upon  the  plains, 
made  a  sudden  rush  into  Silesia,  and,  crushing  at  a  blow  all 
opposition,  took  possession  of  the  whole  duchy.  Having  ao- 
oomplished  this  feat,  he  still  pretended  great  friendship  for 
Maria  Theresa,  and  sent  an  ambassador  to  inform  her  that  h8 
was  afraid  that  some  of  the  foreign  powers,  now  conspiring 
against  her,  might  seize  the  duchy,  and  thus  wrest  it  from 
her ;  that  he  had  accordingly  taken  it  to  hold  it  in  safety ; 
and  that  since  it  was  so  very  important,  for  the  tranquillity  of 
tiis  kingdom,  that  Silesia  should  not  &11  into  the  hands  of  an 
enemy,  he  hoped  that  Maria  Theresa  would  allow  him  to  re- 
tain the  duchy  as  an  indemnity  for  the  expense  he  had  been 
at  in  taking  it." 

This  most  extraordinary  and  impertinent  message  was 
accompanied  by  a  threat.  The  ambassador  of  the  Prussian 
king,  a  man  haughty  and  semi-barbaric  in  his  demeanor,  gave 
his  message  in  a  private  interview  with  the  queen's  hnsband, 
Francis,  tlie  Duke  of  Lorraine.  In  conclusion,  the  ambassador 
added,  "  No  one  is  more  firm  in  his  resolutions  than  the  King 
of  Prussia.  He  must  and  will  take  Silesia.  If  not  secured  by 
the  inunediate  cession  of  that  province,  his  troops  and  money 
will  be  offered  to  the  Duke  of  Bavaria.** 

"  Gk)  tell  your  master,"  the  Duke  of  Lorraine  replied  with 
dignity,  ^  that  while  he  has  a  single  soldier  in  Silesia,  we  will 
rather  peiish  than  enter  into  any  discussion.  If  he  will  evao> 
nate  the  duchy,  we  will  treat  with  him  at  Berlin.  For  my 
(lart,  not  for  the  imperial  crown,  nor  even  for  the  whole 
world,  will  I  sacrifice  one  inch  of  the  queen's  lawful  pos8ea< 
Bions.** 

While  these  negotiations  were  pending,  the  king  himself 
made  an  ostentatious  entry  into  Silesia.     The  majority  of  the 


1 


MABTA    TBBBB8A.  419 

Silesians  were  Protestants.  The  King  of  PmBsia,  who  bad 
discarded  religion  of  all  icinds,  had  of  coarse  discarded  that 
of  Rome,  and  was  thus  nominally  a  I^rotestant.  The  Prot- 
estants, who  had  soffered  so  much  fi^m  the  persecutions  of 
the  Catholio  church,  had  less  to  fear  from  the  infidelity  of 
Berlin  than  from  the  &naticism  of  Rome.  Frederic  was  con- 
sequently generally  received  with  rejoicings.  The  duchy  of 
Silesia  was  indeed  a  desirable  prize.  Spreading  over  a  regioQ 
of  lucre  than  fifteen  thousand  s.^uare  miles,  and  containing  a 
population  of  more  than  a  million  and  a  half,  it  presented  to 
its  feudal  lord  an  ample  revenue  and  the  means  of  raising 
a  large  army.  Breslau,  the  capital  of  the  duchy,  upon  the 
Oder,  contained  a  population  of  over  eighty  thousand.  Buiit 
npon  sevei-al  islands  of  that  beautiful  stream,  its  sitaaticxi  was 
attractive,  while  in  its  palaces  and  its  ornamental  squwes,  it 
vied  with  the  finest  capitals  of  Europe. 

Frederic  entered  the  city  in  tnumph  in  January,  1741. 
The  small  Austrian  ganison,  consisting  of  but  three  thousand 
men,  retired  before  him  into  Moravia.  The  Prussian  monardi 
took  possession  of  the  revenues  of  the  duchy,  organized  th€ 
government  under  bis  own  ojfficers,  ganison  ed  the  fortresses 
find  returned  to  Berlin.  Mat-ia  Theresa  appealed  to  fi-iendly 
courts  for  aid.  Most  of  them  were  lavish  in  promises,  bnt  ^e 
waited  in  viun  for  any  fulfillment.  Neither  money,  arms  nor 
men  were  sent  to  her.  Maria  Theresa,  thus  abandoned  and 
thrown  upon  her  own  unaided  energies,  collected  a  small  army 
in  Moravia,  on  the  confines  of  Silesia,  and  intrusted  the  com- 
mand to  Count  Neuperg,  whom  she  liberated  fi-om  the  prison 
to  which  her  father  had  so  unjustly  consigned  him.  Bnt  it 
was  mid -winter.  The  roads  were  almost  impassable.  The 
treasury  of  the  Anstrian  court  was  so  empty  that  bnt  meager 
supplies  could  be  provided  for  the  troops.  A  ridge  of  moun- 
tains, whose  defiles  were  blocked  up  with  snow,  spread  b^ 
tween  Silesia  and  Moravia. 

It  was  not  until  the  close  of  March  that  Marshal  Neuperg 


420  TflB      HOtTSK     OF     AUSTRIA. 

was  able  to  force  his  way  through  these  defiles  and  enter  SI- 
lesia.  The  Prussians,  not  aware  of  their  danger,  were  reposing 
in  their  cantonments.  Neuperg  hoped  to  take  them  by  sur- 
jHrise  and  cut  them  off  in  detail.  Indeed  Frederic,  who,  by 
chance,  was  at  Jagerndorf  inspecting  a  fortress,  was  nearly 
iurrounded  by  a  party  of  Austrian  hussars,  and  very  narrowly 
escaped  capture.  The  ground  was  still  covered  with  snow  ag 
the  Austrian  troops  toiled  painfully  through  the  mountains  to 
penetrate  the  Silesian  plains.  Frederic  rapidly  concentrated 
bis  scattered  troops  to  meet  the  foe.  The  warlike  character 
of  the  Prussian  king  was  as  yet  undeveloped,  and  Neuperg, 
unconscious  of  the  tremendous  energies  he  was  to  encounter, 
and  supposing  that  the  Prussian  garrisons  would  fly  in  dismay 
before  him,  was  giving  his  troops,  after  their  exhausting  march, 
a  few  days  of  repose  in  the  vicinity  of  Molnitz. 

On  the  8th  of  April  there  was  a  thick  fall  of  snow,  filling 
the  air  and  covering  the  fields.  Frederic  availed  himself  of 
the  storm,  which  curtained  him  fi-om  all  observation,  to  urge 
forward  his  troops,  that  he  might  overwhelm  the  Austrians  by 
a  fierce  surprise.  While  Neuperg  was  thus  resting,  all  uncon- 
scious of  danger,  twenty-seven  battalions,  consisting  of  sixteen 
thousand  men,  and  twenty -nine  squadrons  of  horse,  amounting 
to  six  thousand,  were,  in  the  smothering  snow,  taking  their 
positions  for  battle.  On  the  morning  of  the  10th  the  snow 
ceased  to  fall,  the  clouds  broke,  and  the  sun  came  out  clear 
and  bright,  when  Neuperg  saw  that  another  and  a  far  more 
fearful  storm  had  gathered,  and  that  its  thunderbolts  were 
about  to  be  hurled  into  the  midst  of  his  camp. 

The  Prussian  batteries  opened  their  fire,  spreading  death 
through  the  ranks  of  the  Austrians,  even  while  they  were  has- 
tily forming  in  line  of  battle.  Still  the  Austrian  veterans,  ac- 
customed to  all  the  vicissitudes  of  war,  undismayed,  rapidly 
threw  themselves  into  columns  and  rushed  upon  the  foe. 
Fiercely  the  battle  raged  hour  after  hour  until  the  middle  of 
the  afternoon,  when  the  field  was  covered  with  the  dead  and 


1 


MARIA      THEBESA.  421 

orimsoned  with  blood.  The  Austiians,  having  lost  three  thou 
sand  in  slain  and  two  thousand  in  prisoners,  retired  in  confii 
sion,  surrendering  the  field,  with  several  guns  and  banners,  to 
the  victors.  This  memorable  battle  gave  Silesia  to  Prussia, 
fmd  opened  the  war  of  the  Austrian  succession. 

The  Duke  of  Lorraine  was  greatly  alarmed  by  the  threat* 
ening  attitude  which  affairs  now  assumed.  It  was  evident  that 
France,  Prussia,  Bavaria  and  many  other  powers  wer<*  com* 
bining  against  Austria,  to  rob  her  of  her  provinces,  and  per- 
haps to  dismember  the  kingdom  entirely.  Kot  a  single  cotfft 
as  yet  had  manifested  any  disposition  to  assist  Maria  Theresa. 
England  urged  the  Austrian  court  to  buy  the  peace  of  Pmseta 
at  almost  any  price.  Francis,  Duke  of  Lorraine,  was  earnestly 
for  yielding,  and  intreated  his  wife  to  surrender  a  part  5>r 
the  sake  of  retaining  the  rest.  "  We  had  better,"  he  said, 
"  suiTender  Silesia  to  Prussia,  and  thus  purchase  peace  witfc 
Frederic,  than  meet  the  chances  of  so  general  a  war  as  now 
threatens  Austria." 

But  Maria  Theresa  was  as  imperial  in  character  and  as  in- 
domitable in  spirit  as  Fredei-io  of  Prussia.  With  indignatioc 
she  rejected  all  such  counsel,  declaring  that  she  would  never 
cede  one  inch  of  her  territories  to  any  claimant,  and  that,  even 
if  her  allies  all  abandoned  her,  she  wonld  throw  herself  upon 
her  subjects  and  upon  her  armies,  and  perish,  if  need  be,  m 
defense  of  the  integrity  of  Austria. 

Frederic  now  established  his  court  and  cabinet  at  the  camp 
of  Molnitz.  Couriers  were  ever  coming  and  going.  Envoys 
from  France  and  Bavaria  were  in  constant  secret  conference 
with  him.  France,  jealous  of  the  power  of  Austria,  was  plot- 
ting its  dismemberment,  even  while  protesting  friendship. 
Bavaria  was  willing  to  unite  with  Prussia  in  seizing  the  em- 
pire and  in  dividing  the  spoil.  These  courts  seemed  to  lay  no 
claim  to  any  higher  morality  than  that  of  ordhjary  highway- 
men. The  doom  of  Maria  Theresa  was  apparently  sealed 
Austria  wae  to  be  plundered.     Other  parties  now  began  t« 


422  HE     HOUSE      OF      AUSTRIA. 

rush  in  with  their  claims,  that  they  might  share  in  the  booty. 
Philip  V.  of  Spain  put  in  his  claim  for  the  Austrian  crown  at 
the  lineal  descendant  of  the  Emperor  Charles  V.  Augustus, 
King  of  Poland,  urged  the  right  of  his  wife  Maria,  eldest 
daughter  of  Joseph,  And  even  Charles  Emanuel,  King  of 
Sardinia,  hunted  up  an  obsolete  claim,  through  the  line  of  the 
second  daughter  of  Philip  11. 

At  the  camp  of  Molnitz  the  plan  was  matured  of  giving 
Bohemia  and  Upper  Austria  to  the  Duke  of  Bavaria.  Fred- 
eric of  Prussia  was  to  receive  Upper  Silesia  and  Glatz.  Au- 
gustus of  Poland  was  to  annex  to  his  kingdom  Moravia  and 
Upper  Silesia.  Lombardy  was  assigned  to  Spain.  Sardinia 
was  to  receive  some  compensation  not  yet  fully  decided  upon. 
The  whole  transaction  was  a  piece  of  as  unmitigated  villainy 
as  ever  transpired.  One  can  not  but  feel  a  little  sympathy  for 
Austria  which  had  thus  fallen  among  thieves,  and  was  stripped 
and  bleeding.  Our  sympathies  are,  however,  somewhat  alle- 
viated by  the  reflection  that  Austria  was  just  as  eager  as  any 
of  the  other  powers  for  any  such  piratic  expedition,  and  that, 
soon  after,  she  united  with  Russia  and  Prussia  in  plundering 
Poland.  And  when  Poland  was  dismembered  by  a  trio  of  re- 
gal robbers,  she  only  incurred  the  same  doom  which  she  was 
now  eager  to  inflict  upon  Austria.  When  pirates  and  robbers 
plunder  each  other,  the  victims  are  not  entitled  to  much  sym- 
pathy. To  the  masses  of  the  people  it  made  but  little  difier. 
ence  whether  their  life's  blood  was  wrung  from  them  by  Rus- 
sian, Prussian  or  Austrian  despots.  Under  whatever  rule  they 
lived,  they  were  alike  doomed  to  toil  as  beasts  of  burden  in 
the  field,  or  to  perish  amidst  the  hardships  and  the  carnage  of 
the  camp. 

These  plans  were  all  revealed  to  Maria  Theresa,  and  with 
Buch  a  combination  of  foes  so  powerful,  it  seemed  as  if  no 
earthly  wisdom  could  avert  her  doom.  But  her  lofty  spirit 
remained  unyielding,  and  she  refused  all  offers  of  accommoda- 
tion based  upon  the  sui-render  of  any  portion  of  her  territo- 


MARIA     THEBBSA.  42t 

lies.  England  endeavored  to  induce  Fredenc  to  consent  to 
take  the  duchy  of  Glogau  alone,  suggesting  that  thus  his  Pru» 
sian  majesty  had  it  in  his  power  to  conclude  an  honorable 
peace,  and  to  show  his  magnanimity  by  restoring  tranquillity 
to  Europe. 

"  At  the  beginning  of  the  war,*»  Frederic  replied,  **  I  mighl 
perhaps  have  been  contented  with  this  proposal.  At  present 
I  must  have  four  duchies.  But  do  not,"  he  exclaimed,  impa* 
tiently,  **  talk  to  me  of  magnanimity.  A  pxince  musi  con- 
snlt  his  own  interests.  I  am  not  averse  to  peace ;  but  I  want 
four  duchies,  and  I  will  have  them." 

Frederic  of  Prussia  was  no  hypocrite.  He  was  a  highway 
robber  and  did  not  profess  to  be  any  thing  else.  His  power 
was  such  that  instead  of  demanding  of  the  helpless  traveler  hit 
watch,  he  could  demand  of  powerful  nations  their  revenues. 
If  they  did  not  yield  to  his  demands  he  shot  them  down  with- 
out compunction,  and  left  them  in  their  blood.  The  Briti^ 
minister  ventured  to  ask  what  four  duchies  Frederic  intended 
to  take.  No  reply  could  be  obtained  to  this  question.  By 
the  four  duchies  he  simply  meant  that  he  intended  to  extend 
the  area  of  Prussia  over  every  inch  of  territory  he  could  po8» 
sibly  acquire,  either  by  feir  means  or  by  foul. 

England,  alarmed  by  these  combinations,  which  it  was  evii 
dent  that  France  was  sagaciously  fonning  and  guiding,  and 
from  the  successful  prosecution  of  which  plans  it  was  certain 
that  France  would  secure  some  immense  accession  of  power, 
granted  to  Austria  a  subsidy  of  one  million  five  hundred  thoo- 
sand  dollars,  to  aid  her  in  repelling  her  foes.  Still  the  danger 
from  the  grand  confederacy  became  so  imminent,  that  the 
Duke  of  Lon-aine  and  all  the  Austrian  ministry  united  with  the 
British  ambassador,  in  entreating  Maria  Theresa  to  try  to 
break  up  the  confederacy  and  purchase  peace  with  Prussia  by 
o£Eering  Frederic  the  duchy  of  Glogau.  With  extreme  reluct- 
ance the  queen  at  length  yielded  to  these  importunities,  and 
oonsented  that  an  envoy  should  take  the  proposal  to  the  Prns< 


424  THE     HOUSK     OF     AUSTRIA. 

siau  camp  at  Molnitz.  As  the  envoy  was  about  to  leave  he 
expressed  some  apprehension  that  the  Prussian  king  might 
reject  the  proifer. 

"  I  wish  he  may  reject  it,"  exclaimed  the  queen,  passionate- 
ly. "  It  would  be  a  relief  to  my  conscience.  God  only  knows 
how  I  can  answer  to  my  subjects  for  the  cession  of  the  duchy, 
having  sworn  to  them  never  to  alienate  any  part  of  our  coun- 
try." 

Mr.  Robinson,  the  British  ambassador,  as  mediator,  took 
these  terms  to  the  Prussian  camp.  In  the  endeavor  to  make 
as  good  a  bargain  as  possible,  he  was  first  to  offer  Austrian 
Guelderland.  If  that  failed  he  was  then  to  offer  Limburg,  a 
province  of  the  Netherlands,  containing  sixteen  hundred  square 
miles,  and  if  this  was  not  accepted,  he  was  authorized,  as  the 
ultimatum,  to  consent  to  the  cession  of  the  duchy  of  ftlogau. 
The  Prussian  king  received  the  ambassadors,  on  the  5th  of 
August,  in  a  large  tent,  in  his  camp  at  Molanitz.  The  king 
was  a  blunt,  uncourtly  man,  and  the  interview  was  attended 
with  none  of  the  amenities  of  polished  life.  After  a  few  de- 
sultory remarks,  the  British  ambassador  opened  the  business 
by  saying  that  he  was  authorized  by  the  Queen  of  Austria  to 
offer,  as  the  basis  of  peace,  the  cession  to  Prussia  of  Austrian 
Guelderland. 

"  What  a  beggarly  offer,"  exclaimed  the  king.  "  This  is 
extremely  impertinent.  "  What !  nothing  but  a  paltry  town 
for  all  my  just  pretensions  in  Silesia  I" 

In  this  tirade  of  passion,  either  affected  or  real,  he  contin- 
ued for  some  time.  Mr.  Robinson  waited  patiently  until  this 
outburst  was  exhausted,  and  then  hesitatingly  remarked  that 
|he  queen  was  so  anxious  to  secure  the  peace  of  Europe,  that 
if  tranquillity  could  not  be  restored  on  other  terms  she  was 
even  willing  to  cede  to  Prussia,  in  addition,  the  province  of 
Limburg. 

"  Indeed  I"  said  the  ill-bred,  clownish  king,  contemptuous- 
ty.     "And  how  can  the  qu«^3n  think  of  violating  her  solemn 


MARIA     THERESA.  426 

oath  which  renders  every  inch  of  the  Low  Coui.tiies  inalienable. 
I  have  no  desire  to  obtain  distant  territory  which  will  be  use- 
less to  me ;  much  less  do  I  wish  to  expend  money  in  new  for- 
tification. Neither  the  French  nor  the  Dutch  have  offended 
me ;  and  I  do  not  wish  to  offend  them,  by  acquiring  territo- 
ry in  the  vicinity  of  their  realms.  If  I  should  accept  Limburg, 
what  security  could  I  have  that  I  should  be  permitted  to  re- 
tain it  ?» 

The  ambassador  replied,  "England,  Russia  and  Saxony, 
will  give  their  guaranty." 

"Guaranties,"  rejoined  the  king,  sneeringly.  "Who,  in 
these  times,  pays  any  regard  to  pledges  ?  Have  not  both  En- 
gland and  France  pledged  themselves  to  support  the  Prag- 
matic Sanction  ?  Why  do  they  not  keep  their  promises  ? 
The  conduct  of  these  powers  is  ridiculous.  They  only  do  what 
is  for  their  own  interests.  As  for  me,  I  am  at  the  head  of  an 
invincible  army.  I  want  Silesia.  I  have  taken  it,  and  I  intend 
to  keep  it.  What  kind  of  a  reputation  should  I  have  if  I 
should  abandon  the  first  enterprise  of  my  reign  ?  No !  I  will 
sooner  be  crushed  with  my  whole  army,  than  renounce  my 
rights  in  Silesia.  Let  those  who  want  peace  grant  me  my  de- 
mands. If  they  prefer  to  fight  again,  they  can  do  so,  and 
again  be  beaten." 

Mr.  Robinson  ventured  to  offer  a  few  soothing  words  to 
calm  the  ferocious  brute,  and  then  proposed  to  give  to  him 
Glogau,  a  small  but  rich  duchy  of  about  six  hundred  square 
miles,  near  the  frontiers  of  Prussia. 

Frederic  rose  in  a  rage,  and  with  loud  voice  and  threaten 
ing  gestures,  exclaimed, 

"If  the  queen  does  not,  within  six  weeks,  yield  to  my 
demands,  I  will  double  them.  Return  with  this  answer  to 
Vienna.  They  who  want  peace  with  me,  will  not  oppose  my 
wishes.  I  am  sick  of  ultimatums ;  I  will  hear  no  more  of  them. 
I  demand  Silesia.  This  is  my  final  answer.  I  will  give  no 
other." 


438  TBB    HOC6B    OP    AUSTBIA. 

Then  turning  upon  his  heel,  with  an  air  of  towering  ish 
dignation,  he  retired  behind  the  inner  curtain  of  his  tent. 
Such  was  the  man  to  whom  Providence,  in  its  inscrutable 
wisdom,  had  assigned  a  throne,  and  a  highly  disciplined  army 
of  seventy-five  thousand  men.  To  northern  Europe  be 
proved  an  awful  scourge,  inflicting  woes,  which  no  tongue 
can  adequately  tell. 

And  now  the  storm  of  war  seemed  to  commence  in  ear- 
nest. The  Duke  of  Bavaria  issued  a  manifesto,  declaiing  his 
right  to  the  whole  Austrian  inheritance,  and  pronouncing 
Maria  Theresa  a  usurper.  He  immediately  marched  an  army 
into  one  of  the  provinces  of  Austria.  At  the  same  time,  two 
French  armies  were  preparing  to  cross  the  Rhine  to  cooperate 
with  the  Bavarian  troops.  The  King  of  Prussia  was  also  on 
the  march,  extending  his  conquests.  Still  Maiia  Theresa  re- 
mained inflexible,  refusing  to  purchase  peace  with  Prussia  by 
the  surrender  of  Silesia, 

"The  resolution  of  the  queen  is  taken,"  she  said.  "If 
the  House  of  Austria  must  perish,  it  is  indifierent  whether 
it  perishes  by  an  Elector  of  Bavaria,  or  by  an  Elector  of 
Brandenburg." 

While  these  all  imporiant  matters  were  under  discussion, 
the  queen,  on  the  13th  of  March,  gave  birth  to  a  son,  the 
Archduke  Joseph.  This  event  strengthened  the  queen's  res- 
olution, to  preserve,  not  only  for  herself^  but  for  her  son  and 
heir,  the  Austrian  empire  in  its  integrity.  From  her  infan- 
cy she  had  imbibed  the  most  exalted  ideas  of  the  dignity 
and  grandeur  of  the  house  of  Hapsburg.  She  had  also  been 
taught  that  her  inheritance  was  a  solemn  trust  which  she  wag 
religiously  bound  to  preserve.  Thus  religious  principle,  fam- 
ily  pride  and  maternal  love  all  now  combined  to  increase  the 
dioflexibility  of  a  will  which  by  nature  was  indomitable. 


J 


CHAPTER    XXVII. 

MARIA     THERESA. 
From  1741  to  1743. 

ItaABAOTKE   OF   FrANOIS,    DaKE   OF   LORRAJNK. — PoLIOT    Of   BirSOPBA.IC    COUTITS.— PlA.» 

OF  THB  Allies. — Siegb  of  Peagub. — Desperate  Condition  of  thk  Qubbn. — !!■■ 
Coronation  in  Hungart. — Enthusiasm  of  the  Barons. — Speech  of  Maria 
Theresa. — Peace  with  Frederic  of  Prcssia. — His  Duplioitt.— Militart  Move- 
ment of  ths  Duke  of  Lorraine. — Battle  of  Ohazlbau. — Second  Treats 
with   Frbdekio. — Despondency  of  the  Dxtke  of  Bavaria. — March  of  Malle- 

BOIS. — EXTBAOBDINART    BbTBBAT  OF  BeLLBISLE. — ReOOVEBT    OF    PeAGUB    BY    THB 

QlTEEN. 

MARIA  Theresa,  as  imperial  in  spirit  as  in  position,  was 
unwilling  to  share  the  crown,  even  with  her  husband. 
Francis  officiated  as  her  chief  minister,  giving  audience  to 
foreign  ambassadors,  and  attending  to  many  of  the  details  of 
government,  yet  he  had  but  little  influence  in  the  direction 
of  affairs.  Though  a  very  handsome  man,  of  polished  ad- 
dress, and  well  cultivated  understanding,  he  was  not  a  man 
of  either  brilliant  or  commanding  intellect.  Maria  Theresa, 
as  a  woman,  could  not  aspire  to  the  impeiial  throne ;  but  all 
the  energies  of  her  ambitious  nature  were  roused  to  secure 
that  dignity  for  her  husband.  Francis  was  very  anxious  to 
secure  for  himself  the  electoral  vote  of  Prussia,  and  he,  con- 
sequently, was  accused  of  being  willing  to  cede  Austrian  ter- 
ritory to  Frederic  to  purchase  his  support.  This  deprived 
bim  of  all  influence  whenever  he  avowed  sentiments  contrary 
hO  those  of  the  queen. 

England,  jealous  of  the  vast  continental  power  of  France, 
was   anxious  to  strengthen  Austria,  as  a  means  of  holding 


428  THE      HOUSE    OF    AU8TBIA. 

France  in  check.  Seldom,  in  any  of  these  ooarta,  was  the 
question  of  right  or  wrong  considered,  in  any  transaction. 
Each  conrt  sought  only  its  own  aggrandizement  and  the  ha- 
miliation  of  its  foes.  The  British  cabinet,  now,  with  very 
considerable  seal,  espoused  the  cause  of  Maria  Theresa. 
Pamphlets  were  circulated  to  rouse  the  enthusiasm  of  the 
nation,  by  depicting  the  wrongs  of  a  young  and  beautiful 
queen,  so  unohivalrously  assailed  by  bearded  monarohs  in 
overwhelming  combination.  The  national  ardor  was  thus 
easily  kindled.  On  the  8th  of  August  the  King  of  England, 
in  an  animated  speech  from  the  throne,  urged  Parliament  to 
support  Maria  Theresa,  thus  to  maintain  the  balance  ofpovow 
in  Europe.  One  million  five  hundred  thousand  dollars  were 
immediately  voted,  with  strong  resolutions  in  fevor  of  the 
queen.  The  Austrian  ambassador,  in  transmitting  this  money 
and  these  resolutions  to  the  queen,  urged  that  no  sacrifice 
should  be  made  to  purchase  peace  with  Prussia;  aflirming 
that  the  king,  the  Parliament,  and  the  people  of  England 
were  all  roused  to  enthusiasm  in  behalf  of  Austria ;  and  that 
England  would  spend  its  last  penny,  and  shed  its  last  drop  of 
blood,  in  defense  of  the  cause  of  Maria  Theresa.  This  en- 
couraged the  queen  exceedingly,  for  she  was  sanguine  that 
Holland,  the  natural  ally  of  England,  would  follow  the 
example  of  that  nation.  She  also  cherished  strong  hopes  that 
Russia  might  come  to  her  aid. 

It  was  the  plan  of  France  to  rob  Maria  Theresa  of  aii 
tier  possessions  excepting  Hungary,  to  which  distant  king^ 
dom  she  was  to  be  driven,  and  where  she  was  to  be  left  on- 
disturbed  to  defend  herself  as  she  best  could  against  the 
Turks.  Thus  the  confederates  would  have,  to  divide  among 
themselves,  the  States  of  the  Netherlands,  the  kingdom  of 
Bohemia,  the  Tyrol,  the  duchies  of  Austria,  Silesia,  Moravis, 
Carinthia,  Servia  and  various  other  duchies  opulent  and  popo* 
lous,  over  which  the  vas4  <^mpire  <^  Austria  had  extended  itf 
sway. 


I 


MAEIA     THSBBSA.  429 

The  French  armies  crossed  the  Rhine  and  united  with  the 
Bavarian  troops.  The  combined  battalions  marched,  sweep- 
ing  all  opposition  before  them,  to  Lintz,  the  capital  of  upper 
Austna.  This  city,  containing  about  thirty  thousand  inhabi- 
tants, is  within  a  hundred  miles  of  Vienna,  and  is  one  of  the 
most  beautiful  in  Germany.  Here,  with  much  military  and 
civic  pomp,  the  Duke  of  Bavaria  was  inaugurated  Archduke 
of  the  Austrian  duchies.  A  detachment  of  the  army  was  then 
dispatched  down  the  river  to  Polten,  within  twenty-four  miles 
of  Vienna ;  from  whence  a  summons  was  sent  to  the  capital 
to  surrender.  At  the  same  time  a  powerful  army  turned  its 
steps  north,  and  pressing  on  a  hundred  and  fifty  miles,  over 
the  mountains  and  through  the  plains  of  Bohemia,  laid  siege 
to  Prague,  which  was  filled  with  magazines,  and  weakly  gar- 
risoned. Frederic,  now  in  possession  of  all  Silesia,  was  leading 
his  troops  to  cooperate  with  those  of  France  and  Bavaria. 

The  cause  of  Maria  Theresa  was  now,  to  human  vision, 
desperate.  Immense  armies  were  invading  her  realms. 
Prague  was  invested ;  Vienna  threatened  with  immediate 
siege ;  her  treasury  was  empty ;  her  little  army  defeated  and 
scattered ;  she  was  abandoned  by  her  allies,  and  nothing 
seemed  to  remain  for  her  but  to  submit  to  her  conquerors. 
Hungary  still  clung  firmly  to  the  queen,  and  she  had  been 
crowned  at  Presburg  with  boundless  enthusiasm.  An  eye- 
witness has  thus  described  this  scene  : — 

"The  coronation  was  magnificent.  The  queen  was  all 
charm.  She  rode  gallantly  up  the  Royal  Mount,  a  hillock  in 
the  vicinity  of  Presburg,  which  the  new  sovereign  ascends 
<m  horseback,  and  waving  a  drawn  sword,  defied  the  four 
corners  of  the  world,  in  a  manner  to  show  that  she  had  no 
occasion  for  that  weapon  to  conquer  all  who  saw  her.  The 
antiquated  crown  received  new  graces  from  her  head  ;  and 
the  old  tattered  robe  of  St,  Stephen  became  her  as  well  as 
her  own  rich  habit,  if  diamonds,  pearls  and  all  sorts  of  pre- 
cious  stones  can  be  called  clothes." 


430  TB£      HOUSB      OF      AUSTBIA. 

She  had  but  recently  risen  from  the  bed  of  confinement 
and  the  delicacy  of  her  appearance  added  to  her  attractions. 
A  table  was  spread  for  a  public  entertainment,  around  which 
all  the  dignitaries  of  the  realm  were  assembled — dukes  who 
could  lead  thousands  of  troops  into  the  field,  bold  barons, 
with  their  bronzed  followers,  whose  iron  sinews  bad  been 
toughened  in  innumerable  wars.  It  was  a  warm  summer  day, 
and  the  cheek  of  the  youthful  queen  glowed  with  the  warmth 
and  with  the  excitement  of  the  hour.  Her  beautiful  hair  fell 
in  ringlets  upon  her  shoulders  and  over  her  full  bosom.  She 
sat  at  the  head  of  the  table  all  queenly  in  loveliness,  and  impe- 
rial in  character.  The  bold,  high-spirited  nobles,  who  sur- 
rounded her,  could  appreciate  her  position,  assailed  by  half 
the  monarchies  of  Europe,  and  left  alone  to  combat  them  alL 
Their  chivalrous  enthusiasm  was  thus  aroused. 

The  statesmen  of  Vienna  had  endeavored  to  dissuade  the 
queen  from  making  any  appeal  to  the  Hungarians.  When 
Charles  VI.  made  an  effort  to  secure  their  assent  to  the  Prag- 
matic Sanction,  the  war-worn  barons  replied  haughtily,  "  We 
are  accustomed  to  be  governed  by  men,  not  by  women.** 
The  ministers  at  Vienna  feared,  therefore,  that  the  very  sight 
of  the  queen,  youthful,  frail  and  powerless,  would  stir  these 
barons  to  immediate  insurrection,  and  that  they  would  scorn 
guch  a  sovereign  to  guide  them  in  the  fierce  wars  which  her 
crown  involved.  But  Maria  Theresa  better  understood  human 
nature.  She  believed  that  the  same  barons,  who  would  resist 
the  demands  of  the  Emperor  Charles  VI.,  wou-ld  rally  with 
enthusiasm  around  a  defenseless  woman,  appealing  to  them 
for  aid.  The  cordiality  and  ever-increasing  glow  of  ardor 
with  which  she  was  greeted  at  the  coronation  and  at  the  din- 
ner encouraged  her  hopes. 

She  summoned  all  the  nobles  to  meet  her  in  the  great  hall 
of  the  castle.  The  hall  was  crowded  with  as  brilliant  an 
assemblage  of  rank  and  power  as  Hungary  could  ftimish. 
The  queen  entered,  accompanied  by  her  retinue.     She  waa 


1 


MABIA    TRBBBSA.  431 

dressed  in  deep  mouruing,  in  the  Hungarian  costume,  with 
the  crown  of  St.  Stephen  upon  her  brow,  and  the  regal  cimiter 
at  her  side.  With  a  majestic  step  she  traversed  the  apart- 
ment, and  ascendod  the  platform  or  tribune  from  whence  the 
Kings  of  Hungary  were  accustomed  to  address  their  con- 
gregated lords.  All  eyes  were  fixed  upon  her,  and  the  most 
solemn  silence  pervaded  the  assemblage. 

The  Latin  language  was  then,  in  Hungary,  the  language  of 
diplomacy  and  of  the  court.  All  the  records  of  the  kingdom 
were  preserved  in  that  language,  and  no  one  spoke,  in  the  de- 
liberations of  the  diet,  but  in  the  majestic  tongue  of  ancient 
Rome.  The  queen,  after  a  pause  of  a  few  moments,  during 
which  she  carefully  scanned  the  assemblage,  addressing  them 
in  Latin,  said  : — 

"The  disastrous  situation  of  our  affairs  has  moved  ua 
to  lay  before  our  dear  and  faithful  States  of  Hungary,  the 
recent  invasion  of  Austria,  the  danger  now  impending  over 
this  kingdom,  and  a  proposal  for  the  consideration  of  a 
remedy.  The  very  existence  of  the  kingdom  of  Hungary,  of 
our  own  person,  of  our  children  and  our  crown,  is  now  at 
stake.  Forsaken  by  all,  we  place  our  sole  resource  in  the 
fidelity,  arms  and  long  tried  valor  of  the  Hungarians ;  ex- 
horting you,  the  states  and  orders,  to  deUberate  without  delay 
in  this  extreme  danger,  on  the  most  effectual  measures  for 
the  security  of  our  person,  of  our  children  and  of  our  crown, 
and  to  carry  them  into  immediate  execution.  In  regard  to 
ourselfi  the  faithful  states  and  orders  of  Hungary  shall  ex- 
perience our  hearty  cooperation  in  all  things  which  may 
promote  the  pristine  happiness  of  this  ancient  kingdom,  and 
the  honor  of  the  people,"  * 

♦  Some  may  feel  interested  in  reading  this  speech  in  the  original  Latin,  as 

it  ifl  now  found  recorded  in  the  archives  of  Hungary.     It  is  aa  follows : 

"  Allo<',utio  Reginaj  Hungarise  Marige  Theresiae,  anno  1741.  Aflflictus 
rerum  nostrarum  status  nos  movit,  ut  fidelibus  perchari  regni  Hungarise  sta* 
tibus  de  hostili  provincije  nostrae  hereditariae,  Austriae  invasione,  et  imminente 


432  THE     HOUSE     OF     AUSTRIA, 

The  response  was  instantaneous  and  emphatic.  A  thousand 
warriors  drew  their  sabers  half  out  of  their  scabbards,  and 
then  thrust  them  back  to  the  hilt,  with  a  clangor  like  the 
clash  of  swords  on  the  field  of  battle.  Then  with  one  voice 
they  shouted,  "  Moriamur  pro  nostra  rege,  Maria  Theresa" — 
We  will  die  for  our  sovereign,  Maria  Theresa. 

The  queen,  until  now,  had  preserved  a  perfectly  calm 
and  composed  demeanor.  But  this  outburst  of  enthusiasm 
overpowered  her,  and  forgetting  the  queen,  she  pressed  her 
handkerchief  to  her  eyes  and  burst  into  a  flood  of  tears. 
No  mauJy  heart  could  stand  this  unmoved.  Every  eye  waa 
moistened,  every  heart  throbbed  with  admiration  and  devo- 
tion, and  a  scene  of  indescribable  enthusiasm  ensued.  Hun- 
gary was  now  effectually  roused,  and  Maria  Theresa  was 
queen  of  all  hearts.  Every  noble  was  ready  to  march  hia 
vassals  and  to  open  his  purse  at  her  bidding.  All  through 
the  wide  extended  realm,  the  enthusiasm  rolled  like  an  in- 
undation. The  remote  tribes  on  the  banks  of  the  Save,  the 
Theiss,  the  Drave,  and  the  lower  Danube  flocked  to  her 
standards.  They  came,  semi-savage  bands,  in  uncouth  garb, 
and  speaking  unintelligible  tongues — Croats,  Pandours,  Scla- 
vonians,  Warusdinians  and  Tolpaches.  Germany  was  as- 
tounded at  the  spectacle  of  these  wild,  fierce  men,  apparently 
as  tameless  and  as  fearless  as  wolves.  The  enthusiasm  spread 
rapidly  all  over  the  States  of  Austria.  The  young  men,  and 
especially  the  students  in  the  universities,  espoused  the  cause 
of  the  queen  with  deathless  fervor.     Vienna  was  strongly  for 

regno  huic  periculo,  adeoque  de  considerando  remedio  propositionem  scriplo 
fiftciamua.  Agitur  de  regno  Hungaria,  de  personS,  nostrS,  prolibus  nostria,  et 
corona,  ab  omnibus  derelicli,  unice  ad  inclytorum  statuum  fidelitatem,  anna, 
et  Hungarorum  priscam  virtutem  confdgimus,  impenae  hortantes,  velint  statua 
et  ordines  in  hoc  maximo  periculo  de  securitate  personae  nostree,  prolium, 
coronse,  et  regni  quanto  ocius  consulere,  et  ea  in  effectum  etiam  doducere. 
Quantum  ex  parte  nostra  eat,  qusecunque  pro  pristina  regni  hujus  felicitate, 
et  gentia  decore  forent,  in  iia  omnibus  benignitatem  et  clementiam  nostraa 
regiam  fldelea  status  et  ordines  regni  experturi  sunt." 


MABIA     THEBBSA.  433 

tified,  all  hands  engaging  in  the  work.  So  wonderful  was  this 
movement,  that  the  allies  were  alarmed.  They  had  already 
become  involved  in  quarrels  about  the  division  of  the  antici- 
pated booty. 

Frederic  of  Prussia  was  the  first  to  implore  peace.  The 
Elector  of  Bavaria  was  a  rival  sovereign,  and  Fi-ederic  pre- 
ferred seeing  Austria  in  the  hands  of  the  queen,  rather  than 
in  the  hands  of  the  elector.  He  was,  therefore,  anxious  to 
withdraw  from  the  confederacy,  and  to  oppose  the  allies. 
The  queen,  as  anxious  as  Frederic  to  come  to  an  accommoda- 
tion, sent  an  ambassador  to  ascertain  his  terms.  In  laconic 
phrase,  characteristic  of  this  singular  man,  he  returned  the  fol- 
lowing answer : — 

"  All  lower  Silesia ;  the  river  Neiss  for  the  boundary. 
The  town  of  Neiss  as  well  as  Glatz.  Beyond  the  Oder  the 
ancient  limits  to  continue  between  the  duchies  of  Brieg 
and  Oppelon.  Breslau  for  us.  The  affairs  of  religion  in 
statu  quo.  No  dependence  on  Bohemia;  a  cession  forever. 
In  return  we  will  proceed  no  further.  We  will  besiege  Neiss 
for  fonn.  The  commandant  shall  surrender  and  depart.  We 
will  pass  quietly  into  winter  quarters,  and  the  Austrian  army 
may  go  where  they  will.  Let  the  whole  be  concluded  in 
twelve  days." 

These  terras  were  assented  to.  The  king  promised  never 
to  ask  any  further  territory  from  the  queen,  and  not  to  act 
offensively  against  the  queen  or  any  of  her  allies.  Though 
the  queen  placed  not  the  slightest  confidence  in  the  integrity 
of  the  Prussian  monarch,  she  rejoiced  in  this  treaty,  which 
enabled  her  to  turn  all  her  attention  to  her  other  foes.  The 
allies  were  now  in  possession  of  nearly  all  of  Bohemia  and 
were  menacing  Prague. 

The  Duke  of  Lorraine  hastened  with  sixty  thousand  men 
to  the  relief  of  the  capital.  He  had  arrived  within  nine  miles 
of  the  city,  when  he  learned,  to  his  extreme  chagrin,  that  the 
preceding  night  Prague  had  been  taken  by  surprise.     That 


434  THB     HOUSE     OF     AUSTRIA. 

▼ery  day  the  Elector  of  Bavaria  made  a  triumphal  entry  into 
the  town,  and  was  soon  crowned  King  of  Bohemia.  And 
now  the  electoral  diet  of  Germany  met,  and,  to  the  extreme 
disappointment  of  Maria  Theresa,  chose,  as  Emperor  of  Ger- 
many, instead  of  her  husband,  the  Elector  of  Bavaria,  whom 
they  also  acknowledged  King  of  Bohemia.  He  received  the 
imperial  crown  at  Frankfort  on  the  12th  of  February,  1742, 
with  the  title  of  Charles  VII. 

The  Duke  of  Lorraine  having  been  thus  thwarted  in  his 
plan  of  relieving  Prague,  and  not  being  prepared  to  assail  the 
allied  army  in  possession  of  the  citadel,  and  behind  the 
ramparts  of  the  city,  detached  a  part  of  his  army  to  keep  the 
enemy  in  check,  and  sent  General  Kevenhuller,  with  tliirty 
thousand  men,  to  invade  and  take  possession  of  Bavaria,  now 
nearly  emptied  of  its  troops.  By  very  sagacioue  movements 
the  general  soon  became  master  of  all  the  defiles  of  the 
Bavarian  mountains.  He  then  pressed  forward,  overcoming 
all  opposition,  and  in  triumph  entered  Munich,  the  capital  of 
Bavaria,  the  very  day  Charles  was  chosen  emperor.  Thus 
the  elector,  as  he  received  the  imperial  crown,  dropped  his 
own  hereditary  estates  from  his  hand. 

This  triumph  of  the  queen's  arms  alarmed  Frederic  of 
Prussia.  He  reposed  as  little  confidence  in  the  honesty  of 
the  Austrian  court  as  they  reposed  in  him.  He  was  afraid 
that  the  queen,  thus  victorious,  would  march  her  triumphant 
battalions  into  Silesia  and  regain  the  lost  duchy.  He  conse- 
quently, in  total  disregard  of  his  treaty,  and  without  troubling 
himself  to  make  any  declaration  of  war,  resumed  hostilities. 
He  entered  into  a  treaty  with  his  old  rival,  the  Elector  of 
Bavaria,  now  King  of  Bohemia,  and  Emperor  of  Germany. 
Receiving  from  the  emperor  large  accessions  of  territory, 
Frederic  devoted  his  purse  and  array  to  the  allies.  Hia 
armies  were  immediately  in  motion.  They  overran  Moravia, 
and  were  soon  in  possession  of  all  of  its  most  important 
fortresses.    All  the  energies  of  Frederic  were  consecrated 


MABIA     TBBBB8A.  436 

SiO  any  caase  in  which  he  enliftted.  He  was  indefatigable  in 
hie  activity.  With  no  eense  of  dishonor  in  violating  a  solema 
treaty,  with  no  sense  of  shame  in  conspiring  with  banded 
despots  against  a  yoathfol  queen,  of  whose  yoath,  and  feeble* 
ness  and  feminine  natare  they  wished  to  take  advantage  that 
they  might  rob  her  of  her  possessions,  Frederic  rode  from 
camp  to  camp,  from  capital  to  capital,  to  infase  new  vigor 
into  the  alliance.  He  visited  the  Elector  of  Saxony  at  Dres- 
den, then  galloped  to  Prague,  then  returned  through  Moravia, 
and  placed  himself  at  the  head  of  his  army.  Marching 
vigorously  onward,  he  entered  upper  Austria.  His  hussara 
spreal  terror  in  all  directions,  even  to  the  gates  of  Vi- 
enna. 

The  Hungarian  troops  pressed  forward  in  defense  of  the 
queen.  Wide  leagues  of  country  were  desolated  by  war,  as 
all  over  Germany  the  hostile  battalions  swept  to  and  fro. 
The  Duke  of  Lorraine  hastened  from  Moravia  for  the  defense 
of  Vienna,  while  detached  portions  of  the  Austrian  army  were 
on  the  rapid  march,  in  all  directions,  to  join  him.  On  the 
16th  of  May,  1742,  the  Austrian  army,  under  the  Duke  of 
Lorraine,  and  the  Prussian  army  under  Frederic,  encountered 
each  other,  in  about  equal  numbers,  at  Chazleau.  Equal  in 
numbers,  equal  in  skill,  equal  in  bravery,  they  fought  with 
equal  success.  After  several  hours  of  awful  carnage,  fourteen 
thousand  corpses  strewed  the  ground.  Seven  thousand  were 
Austrians,  seven  thousand  Prussians.  The  Duke  of  Lorraine 
retired  first,  leaving  a  thousand  prisoners,  eighteen  pieces  of 
artiUery  and  two  standards,  with  the  foe ;  but  he  took  with 
him,  captured  from  the  Prussians,  a  thousand  prisoners,  four- 
teen cannon,  and  two  standards.  As  the  duke  left  Frederic 
in  possession  of  the  field,  it  was  considered  a  Prussian  victory. 
But  it  was  a  victory  decisive  of  no  results,  as  each  party 
wag  alike  crippled.  Frederic  was  much  disappointed.  H« 
had  anticipated  the  annihilation  of  the  Austrian  army,  and 
a  triumphant  march  to  Vienna,  where,  in  the  palaces  of 


436  THE     HOUSE     OF      AUSTRIA. 

the  Austrian  kings,  he  intended  to  dictate  terms  to  ttie  pit»s 
trate  monarchy. 

The  queen  had  effectually  checked  his  progress,  new  levies 
were  crowding  to  her  aid,  and  it  was  in  vain  for  Frederic, 
with  his  diminished  and  exhausted  regiments,  to  undertake 
an  assault  upon  the  ramparts  of  Vienna.  Again  he  proposed 
terms  of  peace.  He  demanded  all  of  upper  as  well  as  lower 
Silesia,  and  the  county  of  Glatz,  containing  nearly  seven 
hundred  square  miles,  and  a  population  of  a  little  over  sixty 
thousand.  Maria  Theresa,  crowded  by  her  other  enemies, 
was  exceedingly  anxious  to  detach  a  foe  so  powerful  and 
active,  and  she  accordingly  assented  to  the  hard  terms.  Thia 
new  treaty  was  signed  at  Breslau,  on  the  11th  of  June,  and 
was  soon  ratified  by  both  sovereigns.  The  Elector  of  Saxony 
was  also  included  in  this  treaty  and  retired  from  the  contest. 

The  withdrawal  of  these  forces  seemed  to  turn  the  tide  of 
battle  in  favor  of  the  Austrians.  The  troops  from  Hungary 
fought  with  the  most  romantic  devotion.  A  band  of  Croats 
m  the  night  swam  across  a  river,  with  their  sabers  in  their 
mouths,  and  climbing  on  each  other's  shoulders,  scaled  the 
walls  of  the  fortress  of  Piseck,  and  made  the  garrison  prison- 
ers of  war.  The  Austrians,  dispersing  the  allied  French  and 
Bavarians  in  many  successful  skirmishes,  advanced  to  the 
walls  of  Prague.  With  seventy  thousand  men,  the  Duke  of 
Lorraine  commenced  the  siege  of  this  capital,  so  renmvned  in 
the  melancholy  annals  of  war.  The  sympathies  of  Europe 
began  to  turn  in  favor  of  Maria  Theresa.  It  becsme  a 
general  impression,  that  the  preservation  of  the  Austrian 
monarchy  was  essential  to  hold  France  in  check,  which  colos- 
sal power  seemed  to  threaten  the  liberties  of  Europe.  The 
cabinet  of  England  was  especially  animated  by  this  sentiment, 
and  a  change  in  the  ministry  being  effected,  the  court  of  St. 
James  sent  assurances  to  Vienna  of  their  readiness  to  support 
the  queen  with  the  whole  power  of  the  British  empire. 
Large  supplies  of  men  and  money  were  immediately  voted, 


MARIA      TUBRESA.  437 

Sixteen  thousand  men  were  landed  in  Flanders  to  cooperate 
wilh  the  Austrian  troops,  Holland,  instigated  by  the  example 
of  England,  granted  Maria  Theresa  a  subsidy  of  eight  hundred 
and  forty  thousand  florins.  The  new  Queen  of  Russia,  also, 
Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Peter  the  Great,  adopted  measures 
highly  favorable  to  Austria. 

In  Italy  affairs  took  a  singular  turn  in  favor  of  the 
Austrian  queen.  The  King  of  Sardinia,  ever  ready  to  embark 
his  troops  in  any  enterprise  which  gave  him  promise  of  booty, 
alarmed  by  the  grasping  ambition  of  France  and  Spain,  who 
were  ever  seizing  the  lion's  share  in  all  plunder,  seeing  that 
he  could  not  hope  for  much  advantage  in  his  alliance  with 
them,  proposed  to  the  queen  that  if  she  would  cede  to  him 
certain  of  the  Milanese  provinces,  he  would  march  his  troops 
into  her  camp.  This  was  a  great  gain  for  Maria  Theresa. 
The  Sardinian  troops  guarding  the  passes  of  the  Alps,  shut 
out  the  French,  during  the  whole  campaign,  from  entering 
Italy.  At  the  same  time  the  Sardinian  king,  with  another 
portion  of  his  army,  aided  by  the  Austrian  troops,  overran 
the  whole  duchy  of  Modena,  and  drove  oiat  the  Spaniards. 
The  English  fleet  in  the  Mediterranean  cooperated  in  this 
important  measure.  By  the  threat  of  a  bombardment  they 
compelled  the  King  of  Naples  to  withdraw  from  the  French 
and  Spanish  alliance.  Thus  Austria  again  planted  her  foot  in 
Italy.  This  extraordinary  and  unanticipated  success  created 
the  utmost  joy  and  exultation  in  Vienna.  The  despondency 
of  the  French  court  was  correspondingly  great.  A  few 
months  had  totally  changed  the  aspect  of  affairs.  The  allied 
troops  were  rapidly  melting  away,  with  none  to  fill  up  the 
dwindling  ranks.  The  proud  army  which  had  swept  over 
Germany,  defying  all  opposition,  was  now  cooped  up  within 
the  walls  of  Prague,  beleaguered  by  a  foe  whom  victc  ry  had 
rendered  sanguine.  The  new  emperor,  claiming  the  crown 
of  Austria,  had  lost  his  own  territory  of  Bavaria;  and  tins 
capital   of   Bohemia,    where   he    had   so   recently   been    en. 


438  THE     HOUSE     OF     AUSTKIA. 

throned,  was  hourly  in  peril  of  falling  into  the  hands  of  hli 
foes. 

Under  these  circumstances  the  hopes  of  the  Duke  rt 
Bavaria  sank  rapidly  into  despair.  The  hour  of  disaster  re- 
vealed a  meanness  of  spirit  which  prosperity  had  not  devel- 
oped. He  sued  for  peace,  writing  a  dishonorable  and  cringing 
letter,  in  which  he  protested  that  he  was  not  to  blame  for 
the  war,  but  that  the  whole  guilt  rested  upon  the  French 
court,  which  had  inveigled  him  to  present  his  claim  and  com- 
mence hostilities,  Maria  Theresa  made  no  other  reply  to  this 
humiliating  epistle  than  to  publish  it,  and  give  it  a  wide  cii> 
culation  throughout  Europe.  Cardinal  Fleury,  the  French 
minister  of  state,  indignant  at  this  breach  of  confidence,  sent 
to  the  cabinet  of  Vienna  a  remonstrance  and  a  counter  state- 
ment.    This  paper  also  the  queen  gave  to  the  public. 

Marshal  Belleisle  was  in  command  of  the  French  and 
Bavarian  troops,  which  were  besieged  in  Prague.  The  force 
rapidly  gathering  around  him  was  such  as  to  render  retreat 
impossible.  The  city  was  unprepared  for  a  siege,  and  famine 
soon  began  to  stare  the  citizens  and  garrison  in  the  face. 
The  marshal,  reduced  to  the  last  extremity,  offeied  to  evacu- 
ate the  city  and  march  out  of  Bohemia,  if  he  could  be  peiv 
mitted  to  retire  unmolested,  with  arms,  artillery  and  baggage. 
The  Duke  of  Lorraine,  to  avoid  a  battle  which  would  be 
rendered  sanguinary  through  despair,  was  ready  and  even 
anxious  to  assent  to  these  terms.  His  leading  generals  were 
of  the  same  opinion,  as  they  wished  to  avoid  a  neediest 
effusion  of  blood. 

The  offered  terms  of  capitulation  were  sent  to  Maria 
Theresa.  She  rejected  them  with  disdain.  She  displayed  a 
revengeful  spirit,  natural,  perhaps,  under  the  circumstances^ 
but  which  reflects  but  little  honor  upon  her  character. 

"I  will  not,"  she  replied,  in  the  presence  of  the  whole 
court  J  "I  will  not  grant  any  capitulation  to  the  French 
army.     I  will  listen  to  no  terms,  to  no  proposition  from  Car* 


i 


MARIA     THERESA.  439 

iinal  Fleui-y.  I  am  astonished  that  he  should  come  to  me 
now  with  proposals  for  peace ;  he  who  endeavored  to  excite 
all  the  princes  of  Germany  to  crush  me.  I  have  acted  with 
too  much  condescension  to  the  court  of  France.  Compelled 
by  the  necessities  of  my  situation  I  debased  my  royal  dignity 
by  writing  to  the  cardinal  in  terms  which  would  have  soft- 
ened the  most  obdurate  rock.  He  insolently  rejected  my 
entreaties ;  and  the  only  answer  I  obtained  was  that  his  most 
Christian  majesty  had  contracted  engagements  which  he 
could  not  violate.  I  can  prove,  by  documents  now  in  my 
possession,  that  the  French  endeavored  to  excite  sedition 
even  in  the  heart  of  my  dominions ;  that  they  attempted  to 
overtui-n  the  fundamental  laws  of  the  empire,  and  to  set  all 
Germany  in  a  flame.  I  will  transmit  these  proofs  to  posterity 
as  a  warning  to  the  empire." 

The  ambition  of  Maria  Theresa  was  now  greatly  roused. 
She  resolved  to  retain  the  whole  of  Bavaria  which  she  had 
taken  from  the  elector.  The  duchy  of  Lorraine,  which  had 
been  wrested  fi'om  her  husband,  was  immediately  to  be  in- 
vaded and  restored  to  the  empire.  The  dominions  which  had 
been  torn  from  her  father  in  Italy  were  to  be  reannexed  to 
the  Austrian  crown,  and  Alsace  upon  the  Rhine  was  to  be  re- 
claimed. Thus,  far  from  being  now  satisfied  with  the  posses- 
sions she  had  inherited  from  her  father,  her  whole  soul  was 
roused,  in  these  hours  of  triumph,  to  conquer  vast  accessions 
for  her  domains.  She  dreamed  only  of  conquest,  and  in  her 
•lation  parceled  out  the  dominions  of  France  and  Bavaria 
as  liberally  and  as  unscrupulously  as  they  had  divided  among 
themselves  the  domain  of  the  house  of  Austria. 

The  French,  alarmed,  made  a  great  eflbrt  to  relieve 
Prague.  An  army,  which  on  its  march  was  increased  to 
■ixty  thousand  men,  was  sent  six  hundred  miles  to  cross 
rival's,  to  penetrate  defiles  of  mountains  crowded  with  hostile 
troops,  that  they  might  rescue  Prague  and  its  garrison  from 
the  besiegers.      With  consummate  skill  and  energy  this  criti- 


440  THE     HOUSE     OF     AUSTRIA. 

oal  movement  was  directed  by  General  Mallebois.  The 
garrison  of  the  city  were  in  a  state  of  great  distress.  The 
trenches  were  open  and  the  siege  was  pushed  with  great  vigip 
lance.  All  within  the  walls  of  the  beleaguered  city  were  re- 
duced to  extreme  suffering.  Horse  flesh  was  considered  a 
delicacy  which  was  reserved  for  the  sick.  The  French  m-ade 
sally  after  sally  to  spike  the  guns  which  were  battering  down 
the  walls.  As  Mallebois,  with  his  powerful  reenforcement, 
drew  near,  their  courage  rose.  The  Duke  of  Lorraine  be- 
came increasingly  anxious  to  secure  the  capitulation  before 
the  arrival  of  the  army  of  relief,  and  proposed  a  conference 
to  decide  upon  terms,  which  should  be  transmitted  for  ap- 
proval to  the  courts  of  Vienna  and  of  Paris.  But  the  im- 
perious Austrian  queen,  as  soon  as  she  heard  of  this  move- 
ment, quite  regardless  of  the  feelings  of  her  husband,  whom 
she  censured  as  severely  as  she  would  any  corporal  in  the 
army,  issued  orders  prohibiting,  peremptorily,  any  such  con- 
ference. 

"  I  will  not  suffer,"  she  said  "  any  council  to  be  held  in 
the  army.  From  Vienna  alone  are  orders  to  be  received.  I 
disavow  and  forbid  all  such  proceedings,  let  the  blame  faU 
where  it  may.'''' 

She  knew  full  well  that  it  was  her  husband  who  had  pro- 
posed this  plan ;  and  he  knew,  and  all  Austria  knew,  that  it 
was  the  Duke  of  Lorraine  who  was  thus  severely  and  pub- 
licly reprimanded.  But  the  husband  of  Maria  Theresa  was 
often  reminded  that  he  was  but  the  subject  of  the  queen.  So 
peremptory  a  mandate  admitted  of  no  compromise.  The 
Austrians  plied  their  batteries  with  new  vigor,  the  wan  and 
skeleton  soldiers  fought  perseveringly  at  their  embrasures; 
and  the  battalions  of  Mallebois,  by  forced  marches,  pressed 
on  through  the  mountains  of  Bohemia,  to  the  eventful  arena. 
A  division  of  the  Austrian  army  was  dispatched  to  the  passes 
of  Satz  and  Caden,  which  it  would  be  necessary  for  the 
French   to  thread,  in  approaching  Prague.     The  troops  of 


MAKIA      THBBE3A.  441 

Malleboia,  when  they  arrived  at  these  defiles,  were  so  ex- 
hausted by  their  long  and  forced  marches,  that  they  were  in- 
:apable  of  forcing  their  way  against  the  opposition  they  en- 
countered in  the  passes  of  the  mountains.  After  a  severe 
struggle,  Mallebois  was  compelled  to  relinquish  the  design  of 
lelieving  Prague,  and  storms  of  snow  beginning  to  incumber 
his  path,  he  retired  across  the  Danube,  and  throwing  up  an 
intrenched  camp,  established  himself  in  winter  quarters.  The 
Austrian  division,  thus  successful,  returned  to  Prague,  and  the 
blockade  was  resumed.  There  seemed  to  be  now  no  hope 
for  the  French,  and  their  unconditional  surrender  was  hourly 
expected.  Affairs  were  in  this  state,  when  Europe  was 
astounded  by  the  report  that  the  French  general,  Belleisle, 
with  a  force  of  eleven  thousand  foot  and  three  thousand 
horse,  had  effected  his  escape  from  the  battered  walls  of  the 
eity  and  was  in  successful  retreat. 

It  was  the  depth  of  winter.  The  ground  was  covered  with 
snow,  and  freezing  blasts  swept  the  fields.  The  besiegers 
were  compelled  to  retreat  to  the  protection  of  their  huts. 
Taking  advantage  of  a  cold  and  stormy  night,  Belleisle  formed 
his  whole  force  into  a  single  column,  and,  leaving  behind  him 
his  sick  and  wounded,  and  every  unnecessary  incumbrance, 
marched  noiselessly  but  rapidly  from  one  of  the  gates  of  the 
city.  He  took  with  him  but  thirty  cannon  and  provisions  for 
twelve  days.  It  was  a  heroic  but  an  awful  retreat.  The 
army,  already  exhausted  and  emaciate  by  famine,  toiled  on 
over  morasses,  through  forests,  over  mountains,  &cing  frost 
and  wind  and  snow,  and  occasionally  fighting  their  way 
against  their  foes,  until  on  the  twelfth  day  they  reached  Egra 
on  the  frontiers  of  Bavaria,  about  one  hundred  and  twenty 
miles  east  from  Prague. 

Their  sufferings  were  fearful.  They  had  nothing  to  eat 
but  frozen  bread,  and  at  night  they  sought  repose,  tentless, 
and  upon  the  drifted  snow.  The  whole  distance  was  8trewe<? 
with  the  bodies  of  the  dead.    Each  morning  mounds  of  froaea 


*42  THE      HOUSB     OP     AUSTRIA. 

corpses  iudicated  the  places  of  the  night's  bivouac.  Twelve 
hundred  perished  during  this  dreadful  march.  Of  those  who 
survived,  many,  at  Egra,  were  obliged  to  undergo  the  ampa 
tation  of  their  fi-ozen  limbs.  General  Belleisle  himself  daring 
the  whole  retreat,  was  suflfering  from  such  a  severe  attack  ol 
rheumatism,  that  he  was  unable  either  to  walk  or  ride.  His 
mind,  however,  was  fiUI  of  vigor  and  his  energies  unabated. 
Carried  in  a  sedan  chair  he  reconnoitred  the  way,  pointed  out 
the  roads,  visited  every  part  of  the  extended  line  of  march, 
encouraged  the  fainting  troops,  and  superintended  all  the  mi> 
nutest  details  of  the  retreat.  "  Notwithstanding  the  losses 
of  his  army,"  it  is  recorded,  **  he  had  the  satisfaction  of  pre- 
serving the  flower  of  the  French  forces,  of  saving  every 
cannon  which  bore  the  arms  of  his  master,  and  of  not  leaving 
the  smallest  trophy  to  grace  the  triumph  of  the  enemy," 

In  the  citadel  of  Prague,  Belleisle  had  left  six  thousand 
troops,  to  prevent  the  eager  pursuit  of  the  Austrians.  The 
Prince  Sobcuitz,  now  in  command  of  the  besieging  force, 
mortified  and  irritated  by  the  escape,  sent  a  summons  to  the 
garrison  demanding  its  immediate  and  unconditional  surren- 
der. Chevert,  the  gallant  commander,  replied  to  the  officer 
who  brought  the  summons, — 

"  Tell  the  prince  that  if  he  will  not  grant  me  the  honors 
of  war,  I  will  set  fire  to  the  four  corners  of  Prague,  and  bury 
myself  under  its  ruins." 

The  destruction  of  Prague,  with  all  its  treasures  of  archi- 
tecture and  ai%  was  too  serious  a  calamity  to  be  hazarded. 
Chevert  was  permitted  to  retire  with  the  honors  of  war,  and 
with  his  division  he  soon  rejoined  the  army  at  Egra.  Maria 
Theresa  was  exceedingly  chagrined  by  the  escape  of  the 
French,  and  in  the  seclusion  of  her  palace  she  gave  vent  to 
the  bitterness  of  her  anguish.  In  public,  however,  she  assumed 
an  attitude  of  triumph  and  great  exultation  in  view  of  the 
recovery  of  Prague.  She  celebrated  the  event  by  magnificent 
entertainments.      In  imitation  of  the  Olympic  games,  shg 


MASIA      THERBSA.  448 

established  chariot  races,  in  whidi  ladies  alone  were  the  com- 
petitors, and  even  condescended  herself  with  her  sister,  to 
enter  the  lists. 

All  Bohemia,  excepting  Egra,  was  now  rechmned.  Early 
in  the  spring  Maria  Theresa  visited  Prague,  where,  on  the 
12th  of  May,  1743,  with  great  splendor  she  was  crowned 
Queen  of  Bohemia.  General  Belleisle,  leaving  a  small  garri> 
son  at  Egra,  with  the  remnant  of  his  force  crossed  the  Rhine 
and  returned  to  France.  He  had  entered  Germany  a  few 
months  before,  a  conqueror  at  the  head  of  forty  thousand 
men.  He  retired  a  fugitive  with  eight  tiiooawid  men  Bt  lue 
tniUy  ragged,  emadate  and  mutilated. 


CHAPTER    XXVIII« 

MARIA    THERESA. 
From  1743  to  1748. 

?80BPKBOUS    AjSPBOT  OF  AUSTRIAN    AffAIBS.— GapTITBB  OF   EOBA.— VaBT    KXTBIT  OV 
AnSTEIA. — DiSPUTB  WITH    SARDINIA. — MarRIAOE  OF    CUABLES    OF  LoBKAIHB  WITH 

THB  Queen's  Sister.— Invasion  op  Alsace. — Feedbeio  ovEEEira.s  Bohemia.— 
Bohemia  BEOOTBaoo  bt  Pbxnob  Chables.— Death  of  the  Empbbob  Charles  VIL 
—Venality  of  the  old  Monabchies. — Battle  of  Hohbnfeiedbebs. — 8ie  Thomas 
Bobimson's  Inteevtew  with  Mabia  Thkbesa.- Hpnoabian  Enthusiasm.— Thh 
DuKS  of  Lobraine  elected  Emperob. — Continuation  of  the  Wae. — ^Tkkatt  of 
Pbaos. — Indignation  of  Mabia  Thbbbsa. 

THE  cause  of  Maria  Theresa,  at  the  commencement  of  the 
year  1743,  was  triumphant  all  over  her  widely  extended 
domains.  Russia  was  cordial  in  fiiendship.  Holland,  in  token 
of  hostility  to  France,  sent  the  queen  an  efficient  loan  of  six 
thousand  men,  thoroughly  equipped  for  the  field.  The  King 
of  Sardinia,  grateful  for  his  share  in  the  plunder  of  the  French 
and  Spanish  provinces  in  Italy,  and  conscious  that  he  could 
retain  those  spoils  only  by  the  aid  of  Austria,  sent  to  the 
queen,  in  addition  to  the  cooperation  of  his  armies,  a  gift  of  a 
million  of  dollars.  England,  also,  still  anxious  to  check  the 
growth  of  France,  continued  her  subsidy  of  a  million  and  a 
half,  and  also  with  both  fleet  and  army  contributed  very  effi- 
cient military  aid.  The  whole  force  of  Austria  was  now 
turned  against  France.  The  French  were  speedily  driven 
from  Bavaria ;  and  Munich,  the  capital,  fell  into  the  hands  oi' 
the  Austrians.  The  emperor,  in  extreme  dejection,  unable  tc 
present  any  front  of  resistance,  sent  to  the  queen  entreating  a 
treaty  of  neutrality,  offering  to  withdraw  all   claims  to  the 


MABIA     TBBBB6A.  441 

Anatnao  raooessioD,  and  consenting  to  leave  his  Bavaria 
realm  in  the  hands  of  Maria  Theresa  until  a  general  peaoa 
The  emperor,  thus  humiliated  and  stripped  of  all  his  teni 
tories,  retired  to  Frankfort. 

On  the  7th  of  September  Egra  was  captured,  and  dio 
qneen  was  placed  in  possession  of  ail  her  hereditary  domaiii& 
The  wonderful  firmness  and  energy  which  she  had  displayed^ 
and  the  consummate  wisdom  with  which  she  had  oooeeivoci 
and  executed  her  measures,  excited  the  admiration  of  Esropa 
In  Vienna,  Mid  throughout  all  the  States  of  Austria,  her  popo* 
larity  was  unbounded.  After  the  battle  of  Dettingen,  in  whiob 
her  troops  gained  a  decisive  victory,  as  the  queen  was  retim- 
ing to  Vienna  from  a  water  excursion,  she  found  the  ittoks  of 
the  Danube,  for  nine  miles,  crowded  with  her  rejoicing  sob* 
jects.  In  triumph  she  was  escoited  into  the  capital,  greeted 
by  every  demonstration  of  the  most  enthusiastic  joy. 

Austria  and  England  were  now  prepared  to  mature  their 
plans  for  the  dismemberment  of  France.  The  commissioneri 
met  at  Hanau,  a  small  fortified  town,  a  few  miles  east  of 
Frankfort.  They  met,  however,  only  to  quarreC  fiercely. 
Austrian  and  English  pride  clashed  in  instant  collision.  Lord 
8tair,  imperious  and  irritable,  regarded  the  Austi  lane  as  00^ 
side  barbarians  whom  England  was  feeding,  dotbing  and  pto* 
tecting.  The  Austrian  officers  regarded  the  Bngli^  as  r9> 
mote  islanders  from  whom  they  had  hired  money  and  menu 
The  Austrians  were  amazed  at  the  impudence  of  the  Engliab 
in  assuming  the  direction  of  affairs.  The  British  officers  were 
equally  astounded  that  the  Austrians  should  presume  to  take 
Jie  lead.  No  plan  of  cooperation  could  be  ^reed  upon,  and 
^e  conference  broke  up  in  confusion. 

The  queen,  whose  heart  was  still  fixed  opoo  the  elevatioa 
of  her  husband  to  the  throne  of  the  empire,  was  anxious  to 
depose  the  emperor.  But  England  was  no  more  willing  to 
flee  Austria  dominant  over  Europe  than  to  see  Fraose  thoB 
powerful.     Maria  Theresa  was  now  ki  pooooookai  of  aU  bet 


i4d  TBB     HOUSK     OF      ALTtiTKIA. 

▼ast  ancestral  domaiDs,  and  England  judged  that  it  would 
endanger  the  balance  of  power  to  place  upon  the  brow  ol 
her  husband  the  imperial  crown.  The  British  cabinet  coa- 
sequently  espoused  the  cause  of  the  Elector  of  Bavaria,  and 
entered  into  a  private  airangement  with  him,  agreeing  to  ac- 
knowledge him  as  emperor,  and  to  give  him  an  annual  pen- 
sion that  he  might  suitably  support  the  dignity  of  his  station. 
The  wealth  of  England  seems  to  have  been  inexhaustible,  for 
half  the  monarchs  of  Europe  have,  at  one  time  or  other,  been 
fed  and  clothed  from  her  treasury.  George  II.  contracted  to 
pay  the  emperor,  within  forty  days,  three  hundred  thousand 
dollars,  and  to  do  all  in  his  power  to  constrain  the  queen 
of  Austria  to  acknowledge  his  title. 

Maria  Theresa  had  promised  the  King  of  Sardinia  large  ac- 
cessions of  territory  in  Italy,  as  the  price  for  his  cooperation. 
But  now,  having  acquired  those  Italian  territories,  she  was  ex- 
ceedingly reluctant  to  part  with  any  one  of  them,  and  very 
dishonorably  evaded,  by  every  possible  pretense,  the  fulfill- 
ment  of  her  agreement.  The  queen  considered  herself  now 
BO  strong  that  she  was  not  anxious  to  preserve  the  alliance 
of  Sardinia.  She  thought  her  Italian  possessions  secure,  even 
in  case  of  the  defection  of  the  Sardinian  king.  Sardinia  ap- 
pealed to  England,  as  one  of  the  allies,  to  interpose  for  the 
execution  of  the  treaty.  To  the  remonstrance  of  England  the 
queen  peevishly  replied, 

"  It  is  the  policy  of  England  to  lead  me  from  one  sacri- 
fice to  another.  I  am  expected  to  expose  my  troops  for  no 
Other  end  than  voluntarily  to  strip  myself  of  my  possessions. 
Should  the  cession  of  the  Italian  provinces,  which  the  King  of 
Sardinia  claims,  be  extorted  from  me,  what  remains  in  Italy 
will  not  be  worth  defending,  and  the  only  alternative  left  if 
that  of  being  stripped  either  by  England  or  France.'* 

While  the  queen  was  not  willing  to  give  as  much  as  she 
bad  agreed  to  bestow,  the  greedy  King  of  Sardinia  was  grasp. 
ing  at  more  than  she  had  promised.     At  last  the  king,  in  a 


J 


ica&:a    tukbssa.  449 

rage  threaten  ad,  that  if  she  did  not  immediately  comply  witb 
bis  demands,  he  would  miite  with  France  and  Spain  and  the 
emperor  against  Austria.  This  angry  menace  brought  the 
queen  to  terms,  and  articles  of  agreement  satisfactory  to  Sar- 
dinia were  signed.  During  the  whole  of  this  summer  of  1743, 
though  large  armies  were  continually  in  motion,  and  there 
were  many  sanguinary  battles,  and  all  the  arts  of  peace  were 
destroyed,  and  conflagration,  death  and  woe  were  sent  to  ten 
thousand  homes,  nothing  effectual  was  accomplished  by  either 
party.  The  strife  did  not  cease  until  winter  drove  the  weary 
combatants  to  their  retreats. 

For  the  protection  of  tlie  Austrian  possessions  agunst  the 
French  and  Spanish,  the  queen  agreed  to  maintain  in  Italy  ao 
army  of  thirty  thousand  men,  to  be  placed  under  the  com- 
mand of  the  King  of  Sardinia,  w  ho  was  to  add  to  them  an 
army  of  forty-five  thousand.  England,  with  characteristio 
prodigality,  voted  a  million  of  dollars  annually,  to  aid  in  the 
payment  of  these  troops.  It  was  the  object  of  England,  to 
prevent  France  from  strengthening  herself  by  Italian  posses- 
sions. The  cabinet  of  St.  James  took  such  an  interest  in  thii 
treaty  that,  to  secure  its  enactment,  one  million  five  hundred 
thousand  dollars  were  paid  down,  in  addition  to  the  annua] 
subsidy.  England  also  agreed  to  maintain  a  strong  squad  roo 
in  the  Mediterranean  to  cooperate  with  Sardinia  and  Austria, 

Amidst  these  scenes  of  war,  the  usual  dramas  of  domestic 
life  moved  on.  Prince  Charles  of  Lorraine,  had  long  beeo 
ardently  attached  to  Mary  Anne,  younger  sister  of  Maria 
Theresa.  The  young  prince  had  greatly  signalized  himself  on 
the  field  of  battle.  Their  nuptials  were  attended  in  Vienna 
with  great  splendor  and  rejoicings*  It  was  a  union  of  loving 
hearts.  Charles  was  appointed  to  the  government  of  the 
Austrian  Netherlands.  One  short  and  happy  year  passed 
away,  when  Mary  Anne,  in  the  sorrows  of  child-birth,  breathed 
her  last. 

The  winter  was  passed  by  all  parties  in  making  the  most 


448  TBS     HOUSS     OP     AUSTRIA. 

vigorous  preparations  for  a  new  campaign.  England  and 
Fraiioe  were  now  thoroughly  aroused,  and  bitterly  u-ritated 
against  each  other.  Hitherto  they  had  acted  as  auxiliaries  for 
other  parties.  Now  they  summoned  aU  their  energies,  wid 
became  principals  in  the  conflict.  France  issued  a  formal  dec- 
laration of  war  against  England  and  Austria,  raised  an  army 
of  one  hundred  thousand  men,  and  the  debauched  king  him- 
self, Louis  XV.,  left  his  Pare  Aux  Cerfs  and  placed  himself 
at  the  head  of  the  army.  Marshal  Saxe  was  the  active  com- 
mander. He  was  provided  with  a  train  of  artillery  superioi 
to  any  which  had  ever  before  appeared  on  any  field.  Enter- 
ing the  Netherlands  he  swept  all  opposition  before  him. 

The  French  department  of  Alsace,  upon  tiie  Rhine,  jm- 
braced  over  forty  thousand  square  miles  of  territory,  and  con- 
tained a  population  of  about  a  million.  While  Marshal  Saxe 
was  ravaging  the  Netherlands,  an  Austiian  army,  sixty  t;hou- 
sand  strong,  crossed  the  Rhine,  like  a  torrent  burst  into 
Alsace,  and  spread  equal  ravages  through  the  cities  and  vil- 
lages of  France.  Bombardment  echoed  to  bombardment; 
conflagration  blazed  in  response  to  conflagruuon  ;  and  the 
shrieks  of  the  widow,  and  the  moans  of  the  orphan  which 
rose  from  the  marshes  of  Burgundy,  were  refichoed  in  an  un« 
dying  wail  along  the  valleys  of  the  Rhine. 

The  King  of  France,  alarmed  by  the  progress  which  the 
Austrians  were  making  in  his  own  territories,  ordered  thirty 
thousand  troops,  from  the  army  in  the  Netherlands,  to  be 
dispatched  to  the  protection  of  Alsace.  Again  the  tide  was 
turning  against  Maria  Theresa.  She  had  become  so  arrogant 
and  exacting,  that  she  had  excited  the  displeasure  of  nearly 
all  the  empire.  She  persistently  refused  to  acknowledge  the 
emperor,  who,  beyond  all  dispute,  was  legally  elected ;  she 
treated  the  diet  contemptuously ;  she  did  not  disguise  her  de- 
termination to  hold  Bavaria  by  the  right  of  conquest,  and  to 
annex  it  to  Austria ;  she  had  compelled  the  Bavarians  to  take 
the  oath  of  allegiance  to  her ;  she  was  avowedly  meditating 


MABIA      THEBB8A.  449 

gigantic  projects  m  tiie  conquest  of  France  and  Italy  ;  and  it 
was  very  evident  that  she  was  maturing  her  plans  tor  tlie  re- 
conquest  of  Silesia.  Sucii  inordinate  ambition  alarmed  all 
the  neighboring  courts.  Frederic  of  Prussia  was  particularly 
alarmed  lest  he  should  lose  Silesia.  With  his  accustomed 
energy  he  again  drew  his  sword  against  the  queen,  and  became 
the  soul  of  a  new  confederacy  which  combined  many  of  the 
princes  of  the  empire  whom  the  haughty  queen  had  treated 
with  so  much  indignity.  In  this  new  league,  formed  by 
Frederic,  the  Elector  Palatine  and  the  Bang  of  Sweden  were 
brought  into  the  lield  against  Maria  Theresa.  All  this  was 
effected  with  the  utmost  secrecy,  and  the  queen  had  no  in- 
timation of  her  danger  until  the  troops  were  in  motion. 
Frederic  published  a  manifesto  in  which  he  declared  that  he 
took  up  arms  "  to  restore  to  the  German  empire  its  liberty,  to 
the  emperor  his  dignity,  and  to  Europe  repose." 

With  his  strong  army  he  burst  into  Bohemia,  now  drained 
of  its  troops  to  meet  the  war  in  the  Netherlands  and  on  the 
Rhine.  With  a  lion's  tread,  brushing  all  opposition  away,  he 
advanced  to  Prague.  The  capital  was  compelled  to  surrender, 
and  the  garrison  of  fifteen  thousand  troops  became  prisoners 
of  war.  Nearly  all  the  fortresses  of  the  kingdom  fell  into  his 
hands.  Establishing  garrisons  at  Tabor,  Budweiss,  Frauen- 
berg,  and  other  important  posts,  he  then  made  an  irruption 
into  Bavaria,  scattered  the  Austrian  troops  in  all  directions, 
entered  Munich  in  triumph,  and  reinstated  the  emperor  in  the 
possession  of  his  capital  and  his  duchy.  Such  are  the  fortunes 
of  war.  The  queen  heard  these  tidings  of  accumulated  dis- 
aster in  dismay.  In  a  few  weeks  of  a  summer's  campaign, 
when  she  supposed  that  Europe  was  almost  a  suppliant  at  her 
feet,  she  found  herself  deprived  of  the  Netherlands,  of  the 
whole  kingdom  of  Bohemia,  the  brightest  jewel  in  her  crown, 
and  of  the  electorate  of  Bavaria. 

But  the  resolution  and  energy  of  the  queen  remained 
Indomitable.     Maria  Theresa  and  Frederic  were  fairly  pitted 


TBS    BOUSS    OF    AUSTBIA. 

against  each  other.  It  was  Greek  meeting  Greek.  The 
queen  immediately  recalled  the  army  from  Alsace,  and  io 
person  repaired  to  Presburg,  where  she  summoned  a  diet  of 
the  Hungarian  nobles.  In  accordance  with  an  ancient  custom, 
a  blood -red  flag  waved  from  all  the  castles  in  the  kingdom, 
summoning  the  people  to  a  levy  en  maase,  or,  ad  it  was  then 
called,  to  a  general  insurrection.  An  army  of  nearly  eighty 
thousand  men  was  almost  instantly  raised.  A  cotemporary 
historian,  speaking  of  this  event,  says : 

"  This  amazing  unanimity  of  a  people  so  divided  amongst 
themselves  as  the  Hungarians,  especially  in  point  of  religion, 
could  only  be  effected  by  the  address  of  Maria  Theresa,  who 
seemed  to  possess  one  part  of  the  character  of  Elizabeth  of 
England,  that  of  making  every  man  about  her  a  hero." 

Prince  Charles  re-crossed  the  Rhine,  and,  by  a  vigorous 
march  through  Suabia,  returned  to  Bohemia,     By  surprise, 
with  a  vastly  superior  force,  he  assailed  the  fortresses  garrisoned 
by  the  Prussian  troops,  gradually  took  one  after  another,  and 
ere  long  drove  the  Prussians,  with  vast  slaughter,  out  of  the 
whole  kingdom.     Though  disaster,  in  this  campaign,  followed 
the  banners  of  Maria  Theresa  in  the  Netherlands  and  in  Italy, 
she  forgot  those  reverses  in  exultation  at  the  discomfiture  of 
her  great  rival  Frederic.     She  had  recovered  Bohemia,  and 
was  now  sanguine  that  she  soon  would  regain  Silesia,  the  loss 
of  which  province  ever  weighed  heavily  upon  her  heart.     But 
in  her  character  woman's  weakness  was  allied  with  woman's 
determination.     She  imagined  that  she  could  rouse  the  chiv 
airy  of  her  allies  as  easily  as  that  of  the  Hungarian  barons 
and  that  foreign  courts,  forgetful  of  their  own  grasping  am 
bition,  would  place  themselves  as  jjliant  instruments  in  he' 
bands. 

In  this  posture  of  affairs,  the  hand  of  Providence  was  again 
mterposed,  in  an  event  which  removed  from  the  path  of  the 
queen  a  serious  obstacle,  and  opened  to  her  aspiring  mind 
new  visions   of  grandeur.     The   Emperor   Charles  VBL  an 


MABIii     THBBaSA.  4AI 

amiable  man,  of  moderate  abilities,  was  quite  crushed  in  spirit 
by  the  calamities  accumulating  upon  him.  Though  he  had 
regained  his  capital,  he  was  in  hourly  peril  of  being  driven 
from  it  again.  Anguish  so  preyed  upon  his  mind,  that,  pale 
and  wan,  he  was  thrown  upon  a  sick  bed.  While  in  this 
state  he  was  very  injudiciously  informed  of  a  great  defeat 
which  his  troops  had  encountered.  It  was  a  death-blow  to 
the  emperor.  He  moaned,  turned  over  in  his  bed,  and  died, 
on  the  20th  of  January,  1745. 

The  imperial  crown  was  thus  thrown  down  among  the 
combatants,  and  a  scramble  ensued  for  its  possession  such  as 
Europe  had  never  witnessed  before.  Every  court  was  agi- 
tated, and  the  combinations  of  intrigue  were  as  innumerable 
as  were  the  aspirants  for  the  crown.  The  spring  of  1745 
opened  with  clouds  of  war  darkening  every  quarter  of  the 
horizon.  England  opened  the  campaign  in  Italy  and  the 
Netherlands,  her  whole  object  now  being  to  humble  France. 
Maria  Theresa  remained  uncompromising  in  her  disposition  to 
relinquish  nothing  and  to  grasp  every  thing.  The  cabinet  of 
England,  with  far  higher  views  of  policy,  were  anxious  to  de- 
tach some  of  the  numerous  foes  combined  against  Austria; 
but  it  was  almost  impossible  to  induce  the  queen  to  make  the 
slightest  abatement  of  her  desires.  She  had  set  her  heart 
upon  annexing  all  of  Bavaria  to  her  realms.  That  immense 
duchy,  now  a  kingdom,  was  about  the  size  of  the  State  of 
South  Carolina,  containing  over  thirty  thousand  square  miles. 
Its  population  amounted  to  about  four  millions.  The  death 
of  the  Emperor  Charles  VII.,  who  was  Elector  of  Bavaria, 
transmitted  the  sovereignty  of  this  realm  to  his  son,  Maxi- 
milian Joseph. 

Maximilian  was  anxious  to  withdraw  from  the  strife.  He 
agreed  to  renounce  all  claim  to  the  Austrian  succession,  to 
acknowledge  the  validity  of  the  queen's  title,  to  dismiss  the 
auxiliary  troops,  and  to  give  his  electoi-al  vote  to  the  Duke  of 
Lorraine  for  emperor.     But  so  eager  was  the  queeu  to  graep 


452  THE     HOUSB    OF    AUSTBIA. 

(he  Bavarian  dominions,  that  it  was  with  the  utmost  difficulty 
that  Enjjfland  could  induce  her  to  accede  even  to  these  terms. 

It  is  humiliating  to  record  the  readiness  of  these  old 
monarchies  to  sell  themselves  and  their  armies  to  any  cause 
which  would  pay  the  price  demanded.  For  seven  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  dollars  England  purchased  the  alliance  of 
Poland,  and  her  army  of  thirty  thousand  men.  Before  the 
treaty  was  formally  ratified,  the  Emperor  Charles  VII.  died, 
and  there  were  indications  that  Bavaria  would  withdraw  from 
the  French  alliance.  This  alarmed  the  French  ministry,  and 
they  immediately  offered  Poland  a  larger  sum  than  England 
had  proffered,  to  send  her  army  to  the  French  camp.  The 
bargain  was  on  the  point  of  being  settled,  when  England  and 
Austria  again  rushed  in,  and  whispered  in  the  ear  of  Augustua 
that  they  intended  to  chastise  the  King  of  Prussia  thoroughly, 
and  that  if  Poland  would  help  them,  Poland  should  be  re- 
warded with  generous  slices  of  the  Prussian  territory.  This 
was  a  resistless  bribe,  and  the  Polish  banners  were  borne  id 
the  train  of  the  Austrian  alliance. 

The  Duke  of  Lorraine  was  much  annoyed  by  the  imperial 
assumption  of  his  wife.  She  was  anxious  to  secure  for  hioi 
the  crown  of  Germany,  as  adding  to  her  power  and  grandeur. 
But  Francis  was  still  more  anxious  to  attain  that  dignity,  as 
his  position  in  the  court,  as  merely  the  docile  subject  of  his 
wife,  the  queen,  was  exceedingly  humiliating.  The  spring  of 
1745.  found  aU  parties  prepared  for  the  renewal  of  the  fight. 
The  drama  was  opened  by  the  terrible  battle  of  Fontenoy 
in  the  Netherlands.  On  the  11th  of  May  eighty  thousand 
French  met  the  Austrian  allied  army  of  fifty  thousand.  After 
a  few  hours  of  terrific  slaughter  the  allies  retreated,  leaving 
the  French  in  possession  of  the  field.  In  Italy,  also,  the  tide 
of  war  set  against  the  queen.  The  French  and  Spaniardf 
poured  an  army  of  seventy  thousand  men  over  the  Alps  into 
Italy.  The  queen,  even  with  the  aid  of  Sardinia,  had  no  fore* 
capable   of  resisting  them.     The   allies   swept   the  country. 


i 


MARIA     THEBBSA.  46^ 

The  King  of  Sardinia  was  driven  behind  the  walls  of  hia  capi- 
tal. In  this  one  short  campaign  Tortona,  Placentia,  Parma, 
Pavia,  Cazale  and  Aste  were  wi-ested  from  the  Austrians,  and 
the  citadels  of  Alexandria  and  Milan  were  blockaded. 

The  queen  had  weakened  her  armies  both  in  the  Nether- 
lands and  Italy  that  she  migh  accumulate  a  force  sufficient  to 
recover  Silesia,  and  to  crush,  if  possible,  her  great  antagonist 
Frederic.  Maria  Theresa  was  greatly  elated  by  her  success 
in  driving  the  Prussians  from  Bavaria,  and  Frederic  was 
mortified  and  irritated  by  this  first  defeat  of  his  arms.  Thus 
animated,  the  one  by  hope,  the  other  by  vengeance,  Maria  and 
Frederic  gathered  all  their  resources  for  a  trial  of  strength 
on  the  plains  of  Silesia.  France,  fully  occupied  in  the  Nether- 
lands and  in  Italy,  could  render  Frederic  no  assistance.  His 
prospects  began  to  look  dark.  War  had  made  sad  ravages  in 
his  army,  and  he  found  much  difficulty  in  filling  up  his  wasted 
battalions.  His  treasury  was  exhausted.  Still  the  indomita- 
ble monarch  indulged  in  no  emotions  of  dejection. 

Each  party  was  fully  aware  of  the  vigilance  and  energy 
of  its  antagonist.  Their  forces  were  early  in  the  field.  The 
month  of  April  was  passed  in  stratagems  and  skirmishes,  each 
endeavoring  in  vain  to  obtain  some  advantage  over  the  other 
in  position  or  combinations.  Early  in  May  there  was  a  pretty 
severe  conflict,  in  which  the  Prussians  gained  the  advantage. 
They  feigned,  however,  dejection  and  alarm,  and  apparently 
commenced  a  retreat.  The  Austrians,  emboldened  by  this 
subterfiige,  pursued  them  with  indiscreet  haste.  Prince 
Charles  pressed  the  retiring  hosts,  and  followed  closely  after 
them  through  the  passes  of  the  mountains  to  Landshut  and 
Friedburg.  Frederic  fled  as  if  in  a  panic,  throwing  no  ob- 
stacle in  the  path  of  his  pursuers,  seeming  only  anxious  to 
gain  the  ramparts  of  Breslau.  Suddenly  the  Prussians 
turned — the  whole  army  being  concentrated  in  columns  of 
enormous  strength.  They  had  chosen  their  ground  and  their 
hour.     It  was  before  the  break  of  day  on  the  3d  of  June, 


454  TBS   BonsB    of    austbia. 

among  the  bills  of  Hohenfriedberg.  The  Austriaus  were  takeL 
utterly  by  surprise.  For  seven  hours  they  repelled  the  im- 
petuous onset  of  their  foes.  But  when  four  thousand  oi 
their  number  were  mangled  corpses,  seven  thousand  captives 
in  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  seventy-six  standards  and  sixty- 
six  pieces  of  artillery  wrested  from  them,  the  broken  bands 
of  the  Austrians  turned  and  fled,  pursued  and  incessantly 
pelted  by  Frederic  through  the  defiles  of  the  mountains  back 
to  Bohemia.  The  Austrians  found  no  i-est  till  they  had 
escaped  beyond  the  Riesengeberg,  and  placed  the  waves  of 
the  Elbe  between  themselves  and  their  pursuers.  The  Prus- 
cnans  followed  to  the  opposite  bank,  and  there  the  two  armies 
remained  for  three  months  looking  each  other  in  the  face. 

Frederic,  having  gained  so  signal  a  victory,  again  pro- 
posed peace.  England,  exceedingly  desirous  to  detacb  from 
the  allies  so  energetic  a  foe,  urged  the  queen,  in  the  strongs 
est  terms,  to  accede  to  the  overtures.  The  queen,  however, 
never  dismayed  by  adversity,  still  adhered  to  her  resolve  to 
reconquer  Silesia.  The  English  cabinet,  finding  Maria  The- 
resa deaf  to  all  their  remonstrances  and  entreaties,  endeavored 
to  intimidate  her  by  the  threat  of  withdrawing  their  subsidies 

The  English  ambassador.  Sir  Thomas  Robinson,  with  this 
object  in  view,  demanded  an  audience  with  the  queen.  The 
interview,  as  he  has  recorded  it,  is  worthy  of  preservation. 

"  England,"  said  the  ambassador  to  the  queen,  "  has  this 
year  furnished  five  million,  three  hundred  and  ninety-three 
thousand  seven  hundred  and  sixty-five  dollars.  The  nation 
is  not  in  a  condition  to  maintain  a  superiority  over  the  allies 
in  the  Netherlands,  Italy  and  Silesia.  It  is,  therefore,  indis- 
pensable to  diminish  the  force  of  the  enemy.  France  can  not 
be  detached  from  the  alliance.  Prussia  can  be  and  must  be. 
This  concession  England  expects  from  Austria.  What  is  to 
be  done  must  be  done  immediately.  The  King  of  Prussia  can 
not  be  driven  from  Bohemia  this  campaign.  By  making  peace 
with  him,  and  thus  securing  his  voluntary  withdrawal,  your 


I 


UARIA     TIIKRESA.  4ftfi 

mi^esty  can  send  troops  to  the  Netherlands,  and  check  the 
rapid  progress  of  the  FrencH,  who  now  threaten  the  very  ex- 
istence of  England  and  Holland.  If  they  fail,  Austria  must 
inevitably  fall  aloo.  If  peace  can  be  made  with  Prussia 
France  can  be  checked,  and  the  Duke  of  Lorraine  can  be 
chosen  emperor." 

"  I  feel  exceedingly  grateful,"  the  queen  replied,  "  to  the 
king  and  the  English  nation,  and  am  ready  to  show  it  in  ^very 
way  in  my  power.  Upon  this  matter  I  will  consult  my  minis- 
ters and  acquaint  you  with  my  answer.  But  whatever  may 
be  the  decision,  I  can  not  spare  a  man  from  the  neighborhood 
of  the  King  of  Prussia.  In  peace,  as  well  as  in  war,  I  need 
them  all  for  the  defense  of  my  person  and  family." 

"  It  is  affirmed,"  Sir  Thomas  Robinson  replied,  "  that 
seventy  thousand  men  are  employed  against  Prussia.  From 
such  a  force  enough  might  be  spared  to  render  efficient  aid  in 
Italy  and  in  the  Netherlands." 

"  I  can  not  spare  a  man,"  the  queen  abruptly  replied. 

Sir  Thomas  was  a  little  touched,  and  with  some  spirit  re- 
ioined,  "  If  your  majesty  can  not  spare  her  troops  for  the 
general  cause,  England  will  soon  find  it  necessary  to  with- 
draw her  armies  also,  to  be  employed  at  home." 

This  was  a  home  thrust,  and  the  queen  felt  it,  and  replied, 
**  But  why  may  we  not  as  well  detach  France  from  the  alli- 
ance, as  Prussia  ?" 

"  Because  Prussia,"  was  the  reply,  "  can  be  more  easUy  in- 
duced to  accede  to  peace,  by  allowing  her  to  retain  what  she 
now  has,  than  France  can  be  induced  to  yield,  by  sorrenier- 
ing,  as  she  must,  large  portions  of  her  present  acquisitions." 

"  I  must  have  an  opportunity,"  Maria  Ther<?sa  continued, 
"  to  strike  Prussia  another  blow.  Prince  Charles  has  still 
enough  men  to  give  battle." 

"  But  should  he  be  the  victor  in  the  battle,"  Sir  Thomas 

replied,  "  Silesia  is  not  conquered.     And  if  the  battle  be  lost, 

your  naajesty  is  weH  nigh  mined." 

i 


456  THE     HOUSB     OF     AUSTRIA. 

"  If  I  had  determined,"  said  the  queen,  "  to  make  peace 
with  Frederic  to-morrow,  I  would  give  him  battle  to-night. 
But  why  in  such  a  hurry  ?  Why  this  interruption  of  opera- 
tions which  are  by  no  means  to  be  despaired  of?  Give  me 
only  to  October,  and  then  you  may  do  as  you  please." 

"  October  will  close  this  campaign,"  was  the  answer.  "  Our 
affairs  are  going  so  disastrously,  that  unless  we  can  detach 
Prussia,  by  that  time  France  and  Prussia  wUl  be  able  to  dic- 
tate terms  to  which  we  shall  be  compelled  to  accede." 

"  That  might  be  true,"  the  queen  replied,  tartly,  "  if  I  were 
to  waste  my  time,  as  you  are  urging  me  to  do,  in  marching 
my  troops  from  Bohemia  to  the  Rhine,  and  from  the  Rhine 
to  the  Netherlands.  But  as  for  my  troops,  I  have  not  a  single 
general  who  would  condescend  to  command  such  merely  mor 
chiJiery  armies.  As  for  the  Duke  of  Lorraine,  and  my  broth- 
er, Prince  Charles,  they  shall  not  thus  degrade  themselves. 
The  great  duke  is  not  so  ambitious  of  an  empty  honor,  much 
less  to  enjoy  it  under  the  patronage  of  Prussia.  You  speak 
of  the  imperial  dignity !  Is  it  compatible  with  the  loss  of  Si- 
lesia ?  Great  God !  give  me  only  till  October.  I  shall  then 
at  least  be  able  to  secure  better  conditions." 

The  English  ambassador  now  ventured,  in  guarded  phrase, 
but  very  decisively,  to  inform  the  queen  that  unless  she  could 
accede  to  these  views,  England  would  be  constrained  to  with- 
draw her  assistance,  and,  making  the  best  terms  she  could  for 
herself  with  the  enemy,  leave  Austria  to  fight  her  own  bat- 
tles ;  and  that  England  requested  an  immediate  and  a  specific 
answer.  Even  this  serious  menace  did  not  move  the  inflexible 
will  of  the  queen.     She,  with  xawr^   calmness,  replied, 

"  It  is  that  I  might,  with  the  utmost  promptness,  attend  to 
this  business,  that  I  have  given  you  so  expeditious  an  audience, 
and  that  I  have  summoned  my  council  to  meet  so  early.  I 
see,  however,  very  clearly,  that  whatever  may  be  my  decisions, 
they  will  have  but  little  influence  upon  measures  which  are  to 
be  adopted  elsewhere." 


MABIA     THBBBSA.  4t9 

'Hie  queen  convened  her  council,  and  then  informed  En- 
gland, in  most  courteous  phrase,  that  she  could  not  accede  to 
tht  /)ropo8ition.  The  British  cabinet  immediately  entered  into 
a  private  arrangement  with  Prussia,  guaranteeing  to  Frederic 
the  possession  of  Silesia,  in  consideration  of  Prussia's  agre^ 
ment  not  to  molest  England's  Hanoverian  possessions. 

Maria  Theresa  was  exceedingly  indignant  when  she  boi 
came  acquainted  with  this  treaty.  She  sent  peremptory  orderg 
to  Prince  Charles  to  prosecute  hostilities  with  the  utmost  vigor, 
and  with  great  energy  dispatched  refinforcements  to  his  camp. 
The  Hungarians,  with  their  accustomed  enthusiasm,  flocked  to 
the  aid  of  the  queen ;  and  Frederic,  pressed  by  superior  num« 
bers,  retreated  from  Bohemia  back  to  Silesia,  pursued  and 
pelted  in  his  turn  by  the  artillery  of  Prince  Charles.  But 
Frederic  soon  turned  upon  his  foes,  who  almost  surrounded 
him  with  double  his  own  number  of  men.  His  army  was 
compact  and  in  the  highest  state  of  discipline.  A  scene  of 
terrible  carnage  ensued,  in  which  the  Austrian?,  haiing  lost 
four  thousand  in  killed  and  two  thousand  taken  prisoners, 
were  utterly  routed  and  scattered.  The  proud  victor,  gath- 
ering up  his  weakened  battalions,  one  fourth  of  whom  had 
been  either  killed  or  wounded  in  this  short,  fierce  storm  of 
war,  continued  his  retreat  unmolested. 

While  Maria  Theresa,  with  such  almost  superhuman  in^ 
flexibility,  was  pressing  her  own  plans,  the  electoral  diet  of 
Germany  was  assembled  at  Frankfort,  and  Francis,  Duke  of 
Lorraine,  was  chosen  emperor,  with  the  title  of  Francis  I. 
The  queen  was  at  Frankfort  when  the  diet  had  assembled,  and 
was  plying  all  her  energies  in  favor  of  her  husband,  while 
awaiting,  with  intense  solicitude,  the  result  of  the  election. 
When  the  choice  was  announced  to  her,  she  stepped  out  upon 
the  balcony  of  the  palace,  and  was  the  first  to  shout,  "  Long 
dve  the  emperor,  Francis  I."  The  immense  concourse  assem- 
bled in  the  streets  caught  and  reechoed  the  cry.  This  result 
vras  exceedingly  gratifying  to  the  queen  ;  she  regarded  it  as  a 


45S  TBS     BOI73B     OF     AUSTXIA. 

noble  triumph,  adding  to  the  pow^er  and  the  luster  of  hei 

house. 

The  duke,  now  the  emperoi-,  was  at  Heidelberg,  with  an 
aruiy  of  sixty  thousand  men.  The  queen  hastened  to  him 
with  her  congratulations.  The  emperor,  no  longer  a  submis- 
sive subject,  received  his  queenly  spouse  with  great  dignity  at 
the  head  of  his  army.  The  whole  host  was  drawn  up  in  two 
lines,  and  the  queen  rode  between,  bowing  to  the  regiments 
on  the  right  hand  and  the  left,  with  majesty  and  grace  which 
all  admired. 

Though  the  queen's  treasury  was  so  exhausted  that  she  had 
been  compelled  to  melt  the  church  plate  to  pay  her  troops,  she 
was  now  so  elated  that,  regardless  of  the  storms  of  winter, 
rfie  resolved  to  send  an  army  to  Berlin,  to  chastise  Frederic 
in  his  own  capital,  and  there  recover  long  lost  Silesia.  But 
Frederic  was  not  thus  to  be  caught  napping.  Informed  of 
the  plan,  he  succeeded  in  surprising  the  Austrian  army,  and 
dispersed  them  after  the  slaughter  of  five  thousand  men.  The 
queen's  troops,  who  had  entered  Silesia,  were  thus  driven  pell- 
mell  back  to  Bohemia.  The  Prussian  king  then  invaded  Sax- 
ony, driving  all  before  him.  He  took  possession  of  the  whole 
electorate,  and  entered  Dresden,  its  capital,  in  triumph.  This 
was  a  terrible  defeat  for  the  queen.  Though  she  had  often 
said  that  she  would  part  with  her  last  garment  before  she 
would  consent  to  the  surrender  of  Silesia,  she  felt  now  com- 
pelled to  yield.  Accepting  the  proffered  mediation  of  England, 
on  the  25th  of  December,  1745,  she  signed  the  treaty  of  Dres- 
den, by  which  she  left  Silesia  in  the  hands  of  Frederic.  He 
agreed  to  withdraw  his  troops  from  Saxony,  and  to  acknowl- 
edge  the  imperial  title  of  Francis  I. 

England,  in  consequence  of  rebellion  at  home,  had  been 
compelled  to  withdraw  her  troops  from  the  Netherlands ;  and 
France,  advancing  with  great  \^Igor,  took  fortress  after  for- 
tress, until  nearly  all  of  the  Low  Countries  had  fallen  into  her 
hands.     In  Italy,  however,  the  Austrians  were  successftil,  and 


MAfilA     THBBB8A.  4S0 

Maria  Theresa,  having  dispatched  thirty  thousand  troops'  to 
their  aid,  cherished  sanguine  hopes  that  she  might  recover 
Milan  and  Naples.  All  the  belUgerent  powers,  excepting 
Maria  Theresa,  weary  of  the  long  war,  were  anxious  for  peace. 
She,  however,  still  clung,  with  deathless  tenacity,  to  her  de- 
termination to  recover  SUesia,  and  to  win  provinces  in  Italy. 
England  and  France  were  equally  desirous  to  sheathe  the 
sword.  France  could  only  attack  England  in  the  Netherlands; 
England  could  only  assail  France  in  her  marine.  They  were 
both  successful.  France  drove  England  fiom  the  continent ; 
England  drove  France  from  the  ocean. 

Notwithstanding  the  most  earnest  endeavors  of  the  aUieti, 
Maria  Theresa  refused  to  listen  to  any  terms  of  peace,  and 
succeeded  in  preventing  the  other  powers  from  coming  to  any 
accommodation.  Ail  parties,  consequently,  prepared  for  anr 
other  campaign.  Prussia  entered  into  an  alliance  with  Aus- 
tria, by  which  she  agreed  to  furnish  her  with  thirt}  thousand 
troops.  The  queen  made  gigantic  efforts  to  drive  the  French 
from  the  Netherlands.  England  and  Holland  voted  an  army 
of  forty  thousand  each.  The  queen  furnished  sixty  thousand ; 
making  an  army  of  one  hundred  and  forty  thousand  to  oper- 
ate in  the  Netherlands.  At  the  same  time  the  queen  sent 
sixty  thousand  men  to  Italy,  to  be  joined  by  forty-tive  thou- 
sand Sardinians.  Ail  the  energies  of  the  English  fleet  were 
also  combined  with  these  formidable  preparations.  Though 
never  betbre  during  the  war  had  such  forces  been  brought  into 
the  held,  the  campaign  was  quite  disastrous  to  Austria  and 
her  aUies.  Many  bloody  battles  were  fought,  and  many  thou- 
sands perished  in  agony ;  but  nothing  of  any  importance  was 
gained  by  either  party.  When  winter  separated  the  combai- 
ants,  they  retired  exhausted  and  bleeding. 

Again  France  made  overtures  for  a  general  pacification, 
on  terms  which  were  eminently  honorable.  England  was  dis- 
posed to  listen  to  those  terms.  But  the  queen  had  not  yet 
accomphshed  her  purposes,  and  she  succeeded  in  securing  the 


460  THS     HOUSE     OF     AUSTRIA. 

rejection  of  the  proposals.  Again  tlie  belligerents  gathered 
their  resources,  with  still  increasing  vigor,  for  another  cam- 
paign. The  British  cabinet  seemed  now  to  be  out  of  all 
patience  with  Maria  Theresa.  They  accused  her  of  not  sup- 
plying the  contingents  she  had  promised,  they  threatened  to 
withhold  their  subsidies,  many  bitter  recriminations  passedj 
but  still  the  queen,  undismayed  by  the  contentious,  urged  for- 
ward her  preparations  for  the  new  campaign,  till  she  was 
thunderstruck  with  the  tidings  that  the  preliminaries  of  peace 
were   already  signed  by  England,  France  and  Holland. 

Maria  Theresa  received  the  first  formal  notification  of  the 
terms  agreed  to  by  the  three  contracting  powers,  from  the 
English  minister.  Sir  Thomas  Robinson,  who  urged  her  con- 
currence in  the  treaty.  The  indignant  queen  could  not  refi-ain 
from  giving  free  vent  to  her  displeasure.  Listening  for  a  mo- 
ment impatiently  to  his  words,  she  overwhelmed  him  with  a 
torrent  of  reproaches. 

"  You,  sir,"  she  exclaimed,  "  who  had  such  a  share  in  the 
«acrifice  of  Silesia;  you,  who  contributed  more  than  any  one 
in  procuring  the  cessions  to  Sardinia,  do  you  still  think  to  per- 
isuade  me  ?  No !  I  am  neither  a  child  nor  a  fool !  If  you 
will  have  an  instant  peace,  make  it.  I  can  negotiate  for  myself. 
Why  am  I  always  to  be  excluded  from  transacting  my  own 
business  ?  My  enemies  will  give  me  better  conditions  than  ny 
friends.  Place  me  where  I  was  in  Italy  before  the  war ;  but 
yov/r  King  of  Sardinia  must  have  all,  without  one  thought 
for  me.  This  treaty  was  not  made  for  me,  but  for  him,  tor 
him  singly.  Great  God,  how  have  I  been  used  by  that  court ! 
There  is  your  ICing  of  Prussia  !  Indeed  these  circumstances 
tear  open  too  many  old  wounds  and  create  too  many  new  ones. 
Agree  to  such  a  treaty  as  this !"  she  exclaimed  indignantly. 
**  No,  no,  I  will  rather  lose  my  head  " 


I 


CHAPTER     XXIX. 

MARIA    THERESA. 
Feom  1748  TO  1759. 

TkBATT  or  PkAOK.— DiaSATIBFAOTION  OF  MaKIA  ThbbBSA.— PKBPASAf  I0.»  ?03  WaS.— 

Sdttubic  bbtwkkn  BNeLANTt  AND  AusTHiA.— Maeia  Thbeksa. — AlIiIanob  wm 
Franob. — Influknob  of  Mabohionbbs  of  Pompadoitr. — Bitter  BsPBOAOifES  b» 
TWBEN  Austria  and  Enoi.*-*!)- — Oommknokment  of  the  Seven  Years'  War. — Eh- 
EROY  OF  Fbkdebijj  '  /F  t'BUSsiA.— Bansuinart  Battlk8.— VicissmjDBS  OF  War.— 
UissPKRATE  SinjAiioN  OF  Freobbic— Elation  OF  Maria  Thbbbsa. — Hbb  aiui- 
Tioue  PtANB. — AwiTL  Dbfbat  or  THK  Pritssians  at  Bbrum. 

NOT W ITHSTAISTDI NG  the  bitter  opposition  of  Maria 
Theresa  to  peace,  the  definitive  treaty  was  signed  at  Aix- 
la-Chapelle  on  the  18th  of  October,  1748,  by  France,  England 
and  Holland.  Spain  and  Sardinia  soon  also  gave  in  their  ad- 
hesion. The  queen,  finding  it  impossible  to  resist  the  deter- 
mination of  the  other  powers,  at  length  reluctantly  yielded, 
and  accepted  the  terms,  which  they  were  ready  unitedly  to 
enforce  should  she  refuse  to  accede  to  them.  By  this  treaty 
all  the  contracting  powers  gave  their  assent  to  the  Pragmatic 
Sanction.  The  queen  was  required  to  surrender  her  con- 
quests  in  Italy,  and  to  confirm  her  cessions  of  Silesia  to  Prus- 
sia. Thus  terminated  this  long  and  cruel  war.  Though  at 
the  commencement  the  queen  was  threatened  with  utter  de- 
struction, and  she  had  come  out  from  the  contests  with  signal 
honor,  retaining  all  her  vast  possessions,  excepting  Silesia  and 
the  Italian  provinces,  still  she  could  not  repress  her  chagrin. 
Her  complaints  were  loud  and  reiterated.  When  the  British 
minister  requested  an  audience  to  congratulate  her  upon  the 
return  of  peace,  she  snappishly  replied, 


402  THB      HOUSE    OP    AUSTRIA. 

A  visit  of  condolence  would  be  more  proper,  under  these 
drcumstances,  than  one  of  congratulation.  The  British  min- 
ister will  oblige  me  by  making  no  Allusion  whatever  to  so  di* 
agreeable  a  topic." 

The  queen  was  not  only  well  aware  that  this  peace  could 
not  long  continue,  but  was  fully  resolved  that  it  should  not  be 
permanent.  Her  great  rival,  Frederic,  had  wrested  from  her 
Silesia,  and  she  was  determined  that  there  should  be  no  stable 
peace  until  she  had  regained  it.  With  wonderful  energy  she 
availed  herself  of  this  short  respite  in  replenishing  her  treasury 
and  in  recruiting  her  armies.  Frederic  himself  has  recorded 
the  masculine  vigor  with  which  she  prepared  herself  for  the 
renewal  of  war. 

**  Maria  Theresa,**  he  says,  "in  the  secrecy  of  her  cabinet, 
arranged  those  great  projects  which  she  afterwards  carried 
into  execution.  She  introduced  an  order  and  economy  intc 
the  finances  unknown  to  her  ancestors ;  and  her  revenues  ftr 
exceeded  those  of  her  &ther,  even  when  he  was  master  <rf 
Naples,  Parma,  Silesia  and  Servia.  Having  learned  the  no» 
cessity  of  introducing  into  her  army  a  better  discipline,  she 
annually  formed  camps  in  the  provinces,  which  she  visited 
herself  that  she  might  animate  the  troops  by  her  presence  and 
bounty.  She  established  a  military  academy  at  Vienna,  and 
collected  the  most  skillful  professors  of  all  the  sciences  and 
exercises  which  tend  to  elucidate  or  improve  the  art  of  war. 
By  these  institutions  the  army  acquired,  imder  Maria  The* 
resa,  such  a  degree  of  perfection  as  it  had  never  attained 
under  any  of  her  predecessors ;  and  a  woman  accomplished 
designs  worthy  of  a  great  man.*' 

The  queen  immediately  organized  a  standing  army  of  one 
hundred  and  eight  thousand  men,  who  were  brought  under 
the  highest  state  of  discipline,  and  were  encamped  in  suob 
positions  that  they  could,  at  any  day,  be  concentrated  ready 
for  combined  action.  The  one  great  object  which  now  seemed 
to  engross  her  mind  was  the  recovery  of  Silesia.     It  was,  of 


MAIIIA      THEKESA,  463 

oourse,  a  subject  not  to  be  spokeu  of  openly ;  but  in  secret 
conference  with  her  ministers  she  unfolded  her  plana  and 
sought  counsel.  Her  intense  devotion  to  political  affairs^ 
united  to  a  mind  of  great  activity  and  native  strength,  soon 
placed  her  above  her  ministers  in  intelligence  and  sagacity ; 
and  conscious  of  superior  powers,  she  leaned  less  upon  them, 
and  reUed  upon  her  own  resources.  With  a  judgment  thus 
matured  she  became  convinced  of  the  incapacity  of  her  cabi- 
net, and  with  great  skill  in  the  discernment  of  character,  chose 
Count  Kaunitz,  who  was  then  her  ambassador  at  Paris,  prime 
minister.  Kaunitz,  son  of  the  governor  of  Moravia,  had  given 
signal  proof  of  his  diplomatic  abilities,  in  Rome  and  in  Paris. 
For  nearly  forty  years  he  remained  at  the  head  of  foreign 
aflfairs,  and,  in  conjunction  with  the  queen,  administered  the 
government  of  Austria. 

Policy  had  for  some  time  allied  Austria  and  England,  but 
there  had  never  been  any  real  friendship  between  the  two 
cabinets.  The  high  tone  of  superiority  ever  assumed  by  the 
court  of  St.  James; its  offensive  declaration  that  the  arm  of 
England  alone  had  saved  the  house  of  Austria  from  utter  ruin, 
and  the  imperious  demand  for  corresponding  gratitude,  an- 
noyed  and  exasperated  the  proud  court  of  Vienna.  The 
British  cabinet  were  frequently  remonstrated  with  against 
the  assumption  of  such  airs,  and  the  employment  of  language 
so  haughty  in  their  diplomatic  intercourse.  But  the  British 
goverament  has  never  been  celebrated  for  courtesy  in  its 
intercourse  with  weaker  powers.  The  chancellor  Kaunitz 
entreated  them,  in  their  communications,  to  respect  the  se* 
and  temper  of  the  queen,  and  not  to  irritate  her  by  de 
meanor  so  overbearing.  The  emperor  himself  enterec  s 
remonstrance  against  the  discourtesy  which  characterized 
t-heir  intercourse.  Even  the  queen,  unwilling  to  break  off 
friendly  relations  with  her  unpolished  allies,  complamed  to 
the  Bi-itish  ambassador  of  the  arrogant  style  of  the  English 
documents. 


464  THB      HOUSE      OF      AUSTKIA. 

"  They  do  not,"  said  the  queen,  "  disturb  me,  but  the} 
give  great  offense  to  others,  and  endanger  the  amity  existing 
between  the  two  nations.  I  would  wish  that  more  courtesy 
might  mark  our  intercourse." 

But  the  amenities  of  polished  life,  the  rude  islanders  de- 
spised. The  British  ambassador  at  Vienna,  Sir  Robert  Keith, 
a  gentlemanly  man,  was  often  mortified  at  the  messages  he 
was  compelled  to  communicate  to  the  queen.  Occasionally 
the  messages  were  couched  in  terms  so  peremptory  and  offea« 
sive  that  he  could  not  summon  resolution  to  deliver  them,  and 
thus  he  more  than  once  incui-red  the  censure  of  the  king  and 
cabinet,  for  his  sense  of  propriety  and  delicacy.  These  re- 
monstrances were  all  unavailing,  and  at  length  the  Austriao 
cabinet  began  to  reply  with  equal  rancor. 

This  state  of  things  led  the  Austrian  cabinet  to  turn  to 
France,  and  seek  the  establishment  of  friendly  relations  with 
that  couit.  Louis  XY.,  the  most  miserable  of  debauchees^ 
was  nominahy  king.  His  mistress,  Jeauette  Poissou,  who  was 
as  thoroughly  polluted  as  her  regal  paramour,  governed  the 
monarch,  and  through  him  France.  The  king  had  ennobled 
her  with  the  title  of  Marchioness  of  Pompadour,  Her  power 
was  so  boundless  and  indisputable  that  the  most  illustrioua 
ladies  of  the  French  court  were  happy  to  serve  as  her  waiting 
women.  Whenever  she  walked  out,  one  of  the  highest  noblea 
of  the  realm  accompanied  her  as  her  attendant,  obsequiously 
bearing  her  shawl  upon  his  arm,  to  spread  it  over  her  shoulders 
in  case  it  should  be  needed.  Ambassadors  and  ministers  she 
summoned  before  her,  assuming  that  air  of  royalty  which  she 
had  purchased  with  her  merchantable  charms.  Voltaire, 
Diderot,  Montesquieu,  waited  in  her  ante-chambers,  and  im- 
plored her  patronage.  The  haughty  mistress  became  evea 
weary  of  their  adulation. 

"Not  only,"  said  she  one  day,  to  the  Abbe  de  Bemia, 
"  have  I  all  the  nobility  at  my  feet,  but  even  my  lap-dog  if 
weary  of  their  fawning." 


HABIA     THEBSSA.  465 

With  many  apologies  for  requiring  of  the  high-minded 
Maria  Theresa  a  sacrifice,  Kaunitz  suggested  to  her  the  ex- 
pediency of  cultivating  the  friendship  of  Pompadoui".  Silesia 
was  engraved  upon  the  heart  of  the  queen,  and  she  was  pre- 
pared to  do  any  thing  which  could  aid  her  in  the  reconquest 
of  that  duchy.  She  stooped  so  low  as  to  write  a  letter  with 
her  own  hand  to  the  marchioness,  addressing  her  as  "  our 
dear  friend  and  cousin." 

This  was  a  new  triumph  for  Pompadour,  and  it  delighted 
her  beyond  measure.  To  have  the  most  illustrious  sovereign  ot 
Europe,  combining  in  her  person  the  titles  of  Queen  of  Austria 
and  Empress  of  Germany,  solicit  her  fi-iendship  and  her  good 
offices,  so  excited  the  vanity  of  the  mistress,  that  she  became 
immediately  the  warm  friend  of  Maria  Theresa,  and  her  all 
powerful  advocate  in  the  court  of  Versailles.  England  was 
now  becoming  embroiled  with  France  in  reference  to  the  pos- 
sessions upon  the  St.  Lawrence  and  Ohio  iii  Noith  America. 
In  case  of  war,  France  would  immediately  make  an  attack 
upon  Hanover.  England  was  anxious  to  secure  the  Austrian 
alliance,  that  the  armies  of  the  queen  might  aid  in  the  pro- 
tection of  Hanover.  But  Austria,  being  now  in  secret  con- 
ference with  France,  was  very  reserved.  England  coaxed  and 
thi-eatened,  but  could  get  no  definite  or  satisfactory  answer. 
Quite  enraged,  the  British  cabinet  sent  a  final  declaration  that, 
"  should  the  empress  decline  fulfilling  the  conditions  required, 
the  king  can  not  take  any  measures  in  cooperation  with  Aus- 
tria, and  the  present  system  of  Emopean  policy  must  be  dis- 
solved." 

The  reply  of  the  empress  queen  develops  the  feelings  ot 
irritation  and  bitterness  which  at  that  time  existed  between 
the  two  cabinets  of  Austria  and  England. 

"  The  queen,"  Maria  Theresa  replied,  "  has  never  had  the 
satisfaction  of  seeing  England  do  justice  to  her  principles.  li 
the  army  of  Austria  were  merely  the  hired  soldiers  of  En- 
gland, the  British  cabinet  could  not  more  decisively  assume 


#46  TBB    HOUSB     OF     AUSTBIA. 

the  control  of  their  movements  than  it  now  does,  by  requiring 
their  removal  from  the  center  of  Austria,  for  the  defense  of 
England  and  Hanovej-.  We  are  reproached  with  the  great 
efforts  England  has  made  in  behalf  of  the  house  of  Austria. 
But  to  these  efforts  England  owes  its  present  greatness.  If 
Austria  has  derived  useful  succors  from  England,  she  has  pur- 
chased those  succors  with  the  blood  and  rum  of  her  subjects ; 
while  England  has  been  opening  to  herself  new  sources  of 
wealth  and  power.  We  regret  the  necessity  of  uttering  these 
truths  in  reply  to  unjust  and  unceasing  reproaches.  Could 
any  consideration  diminish  our  gratitude  towards  England,  it 
would  be  thus  diminished  by  her  constant  endeavor  to  repre* 
sent  the  aid  she  has  furnished  us  as  entirely  gratuitous,  when 
this  aid  has  always  been  and  always  will  be  dictated  by  her 
own  interests." 

Such  goading  as  this  brought  back  a  roar.  The  British 
envoy  was  ordered  to  demand  an  explicit  and  categorical 
reply  to  the  following  questions : 

1.  If  the  French  attack  Hanover,  will  the  queen  render 
England  assistance  ? 

2.  What  number  of  troops  will  she  send  ;  and  how  soon 
will  they  be  in  motion  to  join  the  British  and  Hanoverian 
troops  ? 

The  Austrian  minister,  Kauuitz,  evaded  a  reply,  coldly  an- 
swering, *'  Our  ultimatum  has  been  given.  The  queen  deems 
those  declarations  as  ample  as  can  be  expected  in  the  pres- 
ent posture  of  affairs ;  nor  can  she  give  any  further  reply 
Bill  England  shall  have  more  ftiUy  e&plained  her  inten- 
tions." 

Thus  repulsed,  England  turned  to  Prussia,  and  sought 
alliance  with  the  most  inveterate  enemy  of  Austria.  Fred- 
eric, fearing  an  assault  from  united  Russia  and  Austria^ 
eageriy  entered  into  friendly  relations  with  England,  and  on 
the  16th  of  January,  1756,  entered  into  a  treaty  with  the  calM- 
aet  of  Great  Britain  for  the  defense  of  Hanover. 


MARIA     TUKKKSA.  489 

Maria  TTieresa  was  quite  delighted  mth  this  arrangement, 
for  affairs  were  moving  much  to  her  satisfaction  at  VersaillesL 
Ber  **  deal'  friend  and  cousin'*  Jeanette  Poisson,  had  dismissed 
all  the  ministers  who  were  nnfriendly  to  Austria,  and  had 
replaced  them  with  her  own  creatures  who  were  io  favor 
of  the  Austrian  alliance.  A  double  motive  influenced  the 
Marchioness  of  Pompadour.  Her  vanity  was  gratified  by  the 
advances  of  Maria  Theresa,  and  revenge  roused  her  soul 
against  Frederic  of  Prussia,  who  had  indulged  in  a  cutting 
witticism  upon  her  position  and  character. 

The  marchioness,  with  one  of  her  favorites,  Cardinal  Bernia, 
met  the  Austrian  ambassador  in  one  of  the  private  apartments 
of  the  palace  of  the  Luxembourg,  and  arranged  the  plan  of 
the  alliance  between  France  and  Austria.  Maria  Theresa, 
without  the  knowledge  of  her  ministers,  or  even  of  her  husband 
the  emperor,  privately  conducted  these  negotiations  with  the 
Marchioness  du  Pompadour.  M.  Kaunitz  was  the  agent  ena- 
ployed  by  the  queen  in  this  transaction.  Louis  XV.,  sunk  in 
the  lowest  depths  of  debauchery,  consented  to  any  arrange- 
ments  his  mistress  might  propose.  But  when  the  treaty  was 
all  matured  it  became  necessary  to  present  it,  to  the  Council 
of  State.  The  queen,  knowing  how  astounded  her  husband 
would  be  to  learn  what  she  had  been  doing,  and  aware  of  the 
shock  it  would  give  the  ministry  to  think  of  an  alliance  with 
France,  pretended  to  entire  ignorance  of  the  measures  she 
had  been  so  energetically  prosecuting. 

In  very  guarded  and  apologetic  phrase,  Kaunitz  intro- 
duced the  delicate  subject.  The  announcement  of  the  unex- 
pected alliance  with  France  struck  all  with  astonishment  and 
indignation.  Francis,  vehemently  moved,  rose,  and  smiting 
che  table  with  his  hand,  exclaimed,  "  Such  an  fiance  is  uih 
natural  and  impracticable — it  never  shall  take  place."  The  em^ 
press,  by  nods  and  winks,  encouraged  her  minister,  and  he  went 
on  detailing  the  great  advantages  to  result  from  the  Frenofc 
alliance.     Maria  Theresa  listened  with  great  attention  to  hit 


468  TBB    BOUSE     Of     AUSTBIA. 

arguments,  and  was  apparently  convinced  by  them.  She  tb«n 
gave  her  approbation  so  decisively  as  to  silence  all  debate. 
She  said  that  such  a  treaty  was  so  manifestly  for  the  interest 
of  Austria,  that  she  was  tearful  that  France  would  not  accede 
to  it.  Since  she  knew  that  the  matter  was  already  arranged 
and  settled  with  the  French  court,  this  was  a  downright  lie, 
though  the  queen  probably  regarded  it  as  a  venial  fib,  or  aa 
diplomacy. 

Thus  curiously  England  and  Austria  had  changed  their 
allies.  George  II.  and  Frederic  II.,  from  being  rancorous  foes 
became  friends,  and  Maria  Theresa  and  Louis  XV.  unfurled 
their  flags  together.  England  was  indignant  with  Austria  for 
the  French  alliance,  Austria  was  indignant  with  England  for 
the  Prussian  alliance.  Each  accused  the  other  of  being  the 
first  to  abandon  the  ancient  treaty.  As  the  Britislj  arabas* 
sador  reproached  the  queen  with  this  abandonment,  she  re- 
plied, 

"  I  have  not  abandoned  the  old  system,  but  Great  Britain 
bas  abandoned  me  and  that  system,  by  concluding  the  Prus- 
sian treaty,  the  first  intelligence  of  which  struck  me  like  a  fit 
of  apoplexy.  I  and  the  King  of  Prussia  are  incompatible. 
No  coiiiSideration  on  earth  shall  induce  me  to  enter  into  any 
engagement  to  which  he  is  a  party.  Why  should  you  be  sur- 
prised  if,  following  your  example  in  concluding  a  treaty  with 
Prussia,  I  should  enter  into  an  engagement  with  France  ?" 

"I  have  but  two  enemies,"  Maria  Theresa  said  again, 
*  whom  I  have  to  dread — the  King  of  Prussia  and  the  Turks. 
And  while  I  and  the  Empress  of  Russia  continue  on  the  same 
good  terms  as  now  subsist  between  us,  we  shall,  I  trust,  be 
able  to  convince  Europe  that  we  are  in  a  condition  to  defend 
om'selves  against  those  adversaries,  however  formidable." 

The  queen  still  kept  her  eye  anxiously  fixed  upon  Silesia, 
and  in  secret  combination  with  the  Empress  of  Russia  made 
preparation  for  a  sudden  invasion.  With  as  much  secrecy  ae 
was  possible,  large  armies  were  congregated  in  the  vicinity  of 


MARIA     TOSBBSA. 

Pragae,  while  Russia  was  cautiously  oonceatrating  her  troops 
upou  the  frontiers  of  Livouia.  But  Frederic  was  on  the  alerti 
and  immediately  demanded  of  the  empress  queen  the  signifi 
oance  of  these  military  movements. 

"In  the  present  crisis,'*  the  queen  replied,  "Ideem  il 
necessary  to  take  measures  for  the  security  of  myself  and  my 
allies,  which  tend  to  the  prejudice  of  no  one.'* 

So  vague  an  answer  was  of  course  unsatisfactory,  and  th« 
haughty  Prussian  king  reiterated  his  demand  in  very  imperi* 
ous  tones. 

"I  wish,'*  said  he,  "for  an  immediate  and  categorical 
answer,  not  delivered  in  an  oracular  style,  ambiguous  and 
inconclusive,  respecting  the  armaments  in  Bonemia,  and  I 
demand  a  positive  assurance  that  the  queen  will  not  attack 
me  either  during  this  or  the  following  year." 

The  answer  returned  by  the  queen  to  this  demand  wai 
equally  unsatisfactory  with  the  first,  and  the  eneigetio  Pro^ 
sian  monarch,  wasting  no  more  words,  instantly  invaded 
Saxony  with  a  powerful  army,  overran  the  duchy,  and  tOiJt 
possession  of  Dresden,  its  capital.  Then  wheeling  his  troop% 
with  twenty-four  thousand  men  he  marched  boldly  into  Bo- 
hemia. The  queen  dispatched  an  army  of  forty  thousand  to 
meet  him.  The  fierce  encounter  took  place  at  Lowosits,  near 
the  banks  of  the  Elbe.  The  military  genius  of  Frederic  pre^ 
vailed,  and  the  Austrians  were  repulsed,  though  the  slaughtei 
was  about  equal  on  each  side,  six  thousand  men,  three  thou* 
sand  upon  each  side,  being  left  in  their  blood.  Frederic  took 
possession  of  Saxony  as  a  conquered  province.  Seventeen 
thousand  soldiers,  whom  he  made  prisoners,  he  forced  into  his 
own  service.  Eighty  pieces  of  cannon  were  added  to  hil 
artillery  train,  and  the  revenues  of  Saxony  replenished  hit 
purse. 

The  anger  of  Maria  Theresa,  at  this  hnmiliation  of  ber  aOy 
was  ronsed  to  the  highest  pitch,  and  she  spent  the  winter  ic 
the  most  vigorous  preparations  for  the  campaign  of  the  ^ring 


470  THE     HOUSE     OF     AUSTRIA. 

She  tooK  advantage  of  religious  fanaticism,  and  represented, 
through  all  the  Catholic  courts  of  Europe,  that  there  was  a 
league  of  the  two  heretical  powers,  England  and  Prussia, 
against  the  faithful  children  of  the  Church.  Jeanette  Poisson, 
Maichioness of  Pompadour,  who  now  controlled  the  destinies 
of  France,  raised,  for  the  service  of  Maria  Theresa,  an  army 
of  one  hundred  and  five  thousand  men,  paid  all  the  expenses 
of  ten  thousand  Bavarian  troops,  and  promised  the  aueen  an 
annual  subsidy  of  twelve  millions  of  imperial  florins.  The 
emperor,  regarding  the  invasion  of  Saxony  as  an  insult  to  the 
empire,  roused  the  States  of  Germany  to  cooperate  with  the 
queen.     Europe  was  again  ablaze  with  war. 

It  was  indeed  a  fearful  combination  now  prepared  to  make 
a  rush  upon  the  King  of  Prussia.  France  had  assembled 
eighty  thousand  men  on  the  Rhine.  The  Swedes  were  rally- 
ing in  great  numbers  on  the  frontiers  of  Pomerania.  The 
Russians  had  concentrated  an  army  sixty  thousand  strong  on 
the  bordei's  of  Livonia.  And  the  Queen  of  Austria  had  one 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  men  on  the  march,  through  Hun- 
gary and  Bohemia,  to  the  frontiers  of  Silesia.  Frederic,  with 
an  eagle  eye,  was  watching  all  these  movements,  and  was  em- 
ploying all  his  amazing  energies  to  meet  the  crisis.  He  re- 
solved to  have  the  advantage  of  striking  the  first  blow,  and 
adopted  the  bold  measure  of  marching  directly  into  the  heart 
of  the  Austrian  States.  To  deceive  the  allies  he  pretended 
to  be  very  much  frightened,  and  by  breaking  down  bridges 
and  establishing  fortresses  seemed  intent  upon  merely  pre- 
senting a  desperate  defense  behind  his  ramparts. 

Suddenly,  in  three  strong,  dense  columns,  Frederic  burst 
into  Bohemia  and  advanced,  with  rapid  and  resistless  strides, 
towards  Prague.  The  unprepared  Austrian  bands  were 
driven  before  these  impetuous  assailants  as  chaflT  is  dispersed 
oy  the  whirlwind.  With  great  precipitation  the  Austrian 
troops,  from  all  quarters,  fled  to  the  city  of  Prague  and  rallied 
beneath  its  walls.     Seventy  thousand  men  were  soon  collected 


MABIA     TBBBE8A.  471 

•trocgiy  intrenched  behind  ramparts,  thrown  np  outade  of 
the  city,  from  which  ramparts,  in  case  of  disaster,  they  coul( 
retire  behind  the  walls  aud  into  the  citadel. 

The  king,  with  his  army,  came  rushing  on  like  the  swee^ 
of  the  tornado,  and  plunged,  as  a  thunderbolt  of  war,  into  the 
oamp  of  the  Austrians.  For  a  few  hours  the  battle  blazed  as 
if  it  were  a  strife  of  demons — hell  in  high  carnival.  KigLte«: 
thousand  Prussians  were  mowed  down  by  the  Austrian  bat 
teries,  before  the  fierce  assailants  could  scale  the  ramparts 
Then,  with  cimeter  aud  bayonet,  they  took  a  bloody  revenge 
Eight  thousand  Austrians  were  speedily  weltering  in  blood 
The  shriek  of  the  battle  penetrated  all  the  dwellings  it 
Prague,  appalling  every  ear,  like  a  wail  from  the  world  oi 
woe.  The  routed  Austrians,  leaving  nine  thousand  prisoners 
in  the  hands  of  Frederic,  rushed  through  the  gates  into  the 
city,  while  a  storm  of  shot  from  the  batteries  on  the  walls 
di'ove  back  the  pursuing  Prussians. 

Prague,  with  the  broken  anny  thus  driven  within  its  walls, 
now  contained  one  huudred  thousand  inhabitants.  The  city 
was  totally  unprepared  for  a  siege.  All  supplies  of  food  being 
out  ofl^  the  inhabitants  were  soon  reduced  to  extreme  suffer- 
ing. The  queen  was  exceedingly  anxious  that  the  city  should 
hold  out  until  she  could  hasten  to  its  relief  She  succeeded 
m  sending  a  message  to  the  besieged  array,  by  a  captain  of 
grenadiers,  who  contrived  to  evade  the  vigilance  of  the  be- 
siegers and  to  gain  entrance  to  the  city. 

**  I  am  concerned,"  said  the  empress,  "  that  so  many  gen- 
erals, with  so  considerable  a  force,  must  remain  besieged  m 
Prague,  but  I  augur  favorably  for  the  event.  I  can  not  too 
strongly  impress  upon  your  minds  that  the  troops  will  incur 
everlasting  disgrace  should  they  not  effect  what  the  French 
in  the  last  war  performed  with  far  inferior  numbers.  The 
honor  of  the  whole  nation,  as  welt  as  that  of  the  imperial 
atins,  is  interested  in  their  present  behavior.  The  security  of 
Bohemia,  of  my  other  hereditary  dominions,  and  of  the  Ger 


472  THE      HOUSE      OF      AUSTRIA. 

man  empire  itse/,  depends  on  a  gallant  defense  and  the  pres- 
ervation  of  Prague. 

"  The  army  under  the  command  of  Marshal  Daun  is  daily 
strengthening,  and  will  soon  be  in  a  condition  to  raise  the 
siege  The  French  are  approaching  with  all  diligence.  The 
Swedes  are  mai'ching  to  my  assistance.  In  a  short  space  ol 
time  affairs  will,  under  divine  Providence,  wear  a  better 
aspect." 

The  scene  in  Prague  was  awful.  Famine  strode  through 
all  the  streets,  covering  the  pavements  with  the  emaciate 
corpses  of  the  dead.  An  incessant  bombardment  was  kejit 
up  from  the  Prussian  batteries,  and  shot  and  shell  were  fall- 
ing incessantly,  by  day  and  by  night,  in  every  portion  of  the 
city.  Conflagrations  were  continually  blazing ;  there  wus  no 
possible  place  of  safety ;  shells  exploded  in  parlors,  in  cham- 
bers, in  cellars,  tearing  limb  from  limb,  and  burying  the  muti- 
lated dead  beneath  the  ruins  of  their  dwellings.  The  boom- 
ing of  the  cannon,  from  the  distant  batteries,  was  answered  by 
the  thunder  of  the  guns  from  the  citadel  and  the  walls,  and 
blended  with  all  this  uproar  rose  the  unmterrupted  shrieks  of 
the  wounded  and  the  dying.  The  cannonade  from  the  Prus- 
sian batteries  was  so  destructive,  that  in  a  few  days  one  quar- 
ter of  the  entire  city  was  demolished. 

Count  Daun,  with  sixty  thousand  men,  was  soon  advancing 
rapidly  towards  Prague.  Frederic,  leaving  a  small  force  to 
continue  the  blockade  of  the  city,  marched  with  the  remain- 
der of  his  troops  to  assail  the  Austrian  general.  They  soon 
met,  and  fought  for  some  hours  as  fiercely  as  mortals  can 
fight.  The  slaughter  on  both  sides  was  awful.  At  length  the 
fortune  of  war  turned  in  favor  of  the  Austrians,  though  they 
laid  down  nine  thousand  husbands,  fathers,  sons,  in  bloody 
death,  as  the  price  of  the  victory.  Frederic  was  almost 
frantic  with  grief  and  rage  as  he  saw  his  proud  battalioiw 
melting  away  before  the  batteries  of  the  foe.  Six  times  hia 
cavalry  charged  with  the  utmost  impetuosity,  and  six  times 


MAR  IX     TUKBESA.  473 

they  were  as  fiercely  repulsed.  Frederic  was  finally  ccmpelled 
to  withdraw,  leaving  fourteen  thousand  of  his  troops  either 
slain  or  prisoners.  Twenty-two  Prussian  standards  and  forty- 
three  pieces  of  artillery  were  taken  by  the  Austrians. 

The  tidings  of  this  victory  elated  Maria  Theresa  almost  to 
delirium.  Feasts  were  given,  medals  struck,  presents  given, 
and  the  whole  empire  blazed  with  illuminations,  and  rang  with 
all  the  voices  of  joy.  The  queen  even  condescended  to  call 
in  person  upon  the  Countess  Daun  to  congratulate  her  upon 
the  great  victory  attained  by  her  husband.  She  instituted,  on 
the  occasion,  a  new  military  order  of  merit,  called  the  order 
of  Maria  Theresa.  Count  Daun  and  his  most  illustrious  offi- 
cers were  honored  with  the  first  positions  in  this  new  order  of 
knighthood. 

The  Prussians  were  compelled  to  raise  the  siege  of  Prague, 
and  to  retreat  with  precipitation.  Bohemia  '.vas  speedily 
evacuated  by  the  Prussian  troops.  The  queen  was  now  deter- 
mined to  crush  Frederic  entirely,  so  that  he  might  never  rise 
again.  His  kingdom  was  to  be  taken  from  him,  carved  up, 
and  apportioned  out  between  Austria,  Sweden,  Poland  and 
Russia. 

The  Prussians  retreated,  in  a  broken  band  of  but  twenty- 
five  thousand  men,  into  the  heart  of  Silesia,  to  Breslau,  its 
beautiful  and  strongly  fortitied  capital.  This  city,  situated  upon 
the  Oder,  at  its  junction  with  the  Ohlau,  contained  a  popula- 
tion of  nearly  eighty  thousand.  The  fugitive  troops  sought 
refuge  behind  its  walls,  protected  as  they  were  by  batteriei 
of  the  heaviest  artillery.  The  Austrians,  strengthened  by  the 
French,  with  an  army  now  amounting  to  ninety  thousand,  fol. 
lowed  closely  on,  and  with  their  siege  artillery  commenced  the 
cannonade  of  the  city.  An  awful  scene  of  carnage  ensued,  in 
•which  the  Austrians  lost  eight  thousand  men  and  the  Prus- 
Bians  five  thousand,  when  the  remnant  of  the  Prussian  garrison, 
retreating  by  night  through  a  remote  gate,  left  the  city  in  th6 
haMds  of  the  Austrians. 


474  THE     HOUSE     OF     AUSTRIA 

It  wa8  now  mid-winter.  But  the  iron-nerved  Prederio, 
undismayed  by  these  terrible  reverses,  collected  the  scattered 
fragments  of  his  army,  and,  finding  himself  at  the  head  of 
thirty  thousand  men,  advanced  to  Breslau  in  the  desperate 
attempt  to  regain  his  capital.  His  force  was  so  inconsidera- 
ble as  to  excite  the  ridicule  of  the  Austrians.  Upon  the  ap- 
proach of  Frederic,  Prince  Charles,  disdaining  *-o  hide  behind 
the  ramparts  of  the  city  on  the  defensive,  against  a  foe  thus 
insulting  him  with  inferior  numbers,  marched  to  meet  the 
Prussians.  The  interview  between  Prince  Charles  and  Fred- 
eric was  short  but  very  decisive,  lasting  only  from  the  hour  of 
dinner  to  the  going  down  of  a  December's  sun.  The  twilight 
of  the  wintry  day  had  not  yet  come  when  seven  thousand 
Austrians  were  lying  mangled  in  death  on  the  blood-stained 
snow.  Twenty  thousand  were  made  prisoners.  All  the  bag- 
gage of  the  Austrian  army,  the  military  chest,  one  hundred 
and  thirty-four  pieces  of  cannon,  and  fifty-nine  standards 
fell  into  the  hands  of  the  victors.  For  this  victory  Fred- 
eric paid  the  price  of  five  thousand  lives ;  but  life  to  the 
poor  Prussian  soldier  must  have  been  a  joyless  scene,  and 
death  must  have  been  a  relief. 

Frederic  now,  with  triumphant  banners,  approached  the 
city.  It  immediately  capitulated,  surrendering  nearly  eighteen 
thousand  soldiers,  six  hundred  and  eighty-six  officers  and  thir- 
teen generals  as  prisoners  of  war.  In  this  one  storm  of  battle, 
protracted  through  but  a  few  days,  Maria  Theresa  lost  fifty 
thousand  men.  Frederic  then  turned  upon  the  Russians,  and 
drove  them  out  of  Silesia.  The  same  doom  awaited  the 
Swedes,  and  they  fied  precipitately  to  winter  quarters  behind 
the  cannon  of  Stralsund.  Thus  terminated  the  memorable 
campaign  of  IVST,  the  most  memorable  of  the  Seven  Years* 
War.  The  Austrian  army  was  almost  annihilated ;  but  the 
spirit  of  the  strife  was  not  subdued  in  any  breast. 

The  returning  sun  of  spring  was  but  the  harbinger  of  new 
voes  for  war-stricken  Europe.      England,  being  essentially  • 


MARIA     TUKRESA.  476 

maritime  power,  could  render  P'rederic  but  little  assistance 
in  troops ;  but  the  cabinet  of  St.  James  was  lavish  in  voting 
money  Encouraged  by  the  vigor  Frederic  had  shown,  the 
British  cabinet,  with  enthusiasm,  voted  him  an  annual  subsidy 
of  three  million  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars. 

Austria  was  so  exhausted  in  means  and  in  men,  that  not- 
withstanding the  most  herculean  efforts  of  the  queen,  it  was 
not  until  April  of  the  year  1758  that  she  was  able  to  concen- 
trate fifty  thousand  men  in  the  field,  with  the  expensive  equip- 
ments which  war  demands.  Fredei'ic,  aided  by  the  gold  of 
England,  was  early  on  the  move,  and  had  already  opened  tb« 
campaign  by  the  invasion  of  Moravia,  and  by  besieging  01- 
mutz. 

The  summer  was  passed  in  a  series  of  incessant  battles, 
sweeping  all  over  Germany,  with  the  usual  vicissitudes  of  war. 
In  the  great  battle  of  Hockkirchen  Frederic  encountered  a 
woful  defeat.  The  battle  took  place  on  the  14th  of  October, 
and  lasted  five  hours.  Eight  thousand  Austrians  and  nine 
thousand  Prussians  were  stretched  lifeless  upon  the  plain. 
Frederic  was  at  last  compelled  to  retreat,  abandoning  his 
tents,  his  baggage,  one  hundred  and  one  cannon,  and  thirty 
standards.  Nearly  every  Prussian  general  was  wounded. 
The  king  himself  was  grazed  by  a  ball ;  his  horse  was  shot 
from  under  him,  and  two  pages  were  killed  at  his  side. 

Again  Vienna  blazed  with  illuminations  and  rang  with  re- 
joicing, and  the  queen  liberally  dispensed  her  gifts  and  her 
congratulations.  Still  nothing  effectual  was  accomplished  by 
all  this  enormous  expenditure  of  treasure,  this  carnage  and 
woe;  and  again  the  exhausted  combatants  retired  to  seek 
shelter  from  the  storms  of  winter.  Thus  terminated  the  third 
year  of  this  cruel  and  wasting  war. 

The  spring  of  1759  opened  brightly  for  Maria  Theresa. 
Her  army,  flushed  by  the  victory  of  the  last  autumn,  was  in 
high  health  and  spirits.  All  the  allies  of  Austria  redoubled 
their  exertions;  and  the  Catholic  States  of  Germany  with  re 


4'n  THB     HOUSE     OF     AUSTBlA. 

ligious  zeal  rallied  against  the  two  heretical  kiugdoms  of 
Prussia  and  England.  The  armies  of  France,  Austria,  Swe- 
den and  Russia  were  now  marching  upon  Prussia,  and  it 
seemed  impossible  that  the  king  could  withstand  such  adver- 
saries. More  fiei'cely  than  ever  the  storm  of  war  raged. 
Frederic,  at  the  head  of  forty  thousand  men,  early  in  June 
met  eighty  thousand  Russians  and  Austrians  upon  the  bankt 
of  the  Oder,  near  Frankfort.  For  seven  hours  the  action 
lasted,  and  the  allies  were  routed  with  enormous  slaughter ; 
but  the  king,  pursuing  his  victory  too  far  with  his  exhausted 
troops,  was  turned  upon  by  the  foe,  and  was  routed  himself 
in  turn,  with  the  slaughter  of  one  half  of  his  whole  army. 
Twenty-four  thousand  of  the  allies  and  twenty  thousand  Prus- 
sians perished  on  that  bloody  day. 

Frederic  exposed  his  person  with  the  utmost  recklessness. 
Two  horses  were  shot  beneath  him ;  several  musket  balli 
pierced  his  clothes  ;  he  was  slightly  wounded,  and  was  rescued 
from  the  foe  only  by  the  almost  superhuman  exertions  of  his 
hussars.  In  the  darkness  of  the  night  the  Prussians  secured 
their  retreat. 

We  have  mentioned  that  at  first  Frederic  seemed  to  have 
gained  the  victory.  So  sanguine  was  he  then  of  success  that 
he  dispatched  a  courier  from  the  field,  with  the  following  bil- 
let to  the  queen  at  Berlin  : — 

"  We  have  driven  the  enemy  from  their  intrenchraents ; 
in  two  hours  expect  to  hear  of  a  glorious  victory." 

Hardly  two  hours  had  elapsed  ere  another  courier  was  sent 
to  the  queen  with  the  following  appalling  message : — 

"Remove  from  Berlin  with  the  royal  family.  Let  the 
archives  be  carried  to  Potsdam,  and  the  capital  make  condi- 
tions with  the  enemy." 

In  this  terrible  battle  the  enemy  lost  so  fearfully  that  no 
eflfbrt  was  made  to  pursue  Frederic.  Disaster  never  disheart- 
ened the  Prussian  king.  It  seemed  but  to  rouse  anew  his 
energies.     With  amazing  vigor  he  rallied  his  scattered  foroea- 


MABIA     TBBBS8A.  47? 

and  called  in  refinforcements.  The  gold  of  England  was  at 
his  disposal ;  he  dismantled  distant  fortresses  and  brought 
their  cannon  into  the  field,  and  in  a  few  days  was  at  the  head 
of  twenty-eight  thousand  men,  beneath  the  walls  of  his  capital, 
ready  again  to  face  the  foe. 

Tlie  thunderings  of  battle  continued  week  after  week,  in 
unintermitted  roar  throughout  nearly  all  of  Germany.  Winter 
again  came.  Frederic  had  suffered  awfully  during  the  cam- 
paign, but  was  still  unsubdued.  The  warfare  was  protracted 
even  into  the  middle  of  the  winter.  The  soldiers,  in  the  fields, 
wading  through  snow  a  foot  deep,  suffered  more  fr<im  fani- 
wie,  frost  and  sickness  than  fi-om  the  bullet  of  the  foe.  In  the 
Austrian  army  four  thousand  died,  in  sixteen  days  of  Decem- 
ber, from  the  hiclemency  of  the  weather.  Th)i8  terminated 
the  campaign  of  1759. 


CHAPTER    XXX. 

MARIA    THERESA. 

Feom  1759  TO  1780. 

Sbsolatioiis  of  Wab. — D18A8TBBS  OP  PKU88IA.— Despondency  op  PEBDKEia— Dbath 
OF  THE  Empress  Elizabeth. — Aoobssion  of  Paul  IIL — Assassination  op  Paul 
III.— AooESsioN  or  Cathaeink. — Disoomfitubb  of  the  AnsTEiANS. — Teeaty  01" 
Peace. — Election  of  Joseph  to  the  Throne  op  the  Empire. — Death  of  Franoibi 
— Chaeactee  opPeancis. — Anecdotes. — Energy  of  Maria  Theresa. — Poniatow- 
8KI. — Partition  op  Poland. — Maria  Theebsa  as  a  Mother.  — Wak  with  Bava- 
EiA.— Peace. — Death  op  Maria  Thkeesa. — Family  of  the  Empress.— Aooesbbiom 
op  Joseph  II. — His  Chabaotkr. 

rpHE  spring  of  1760  found  all  parties  eager  for  the  renewal 
-*-  of  the  strife,  but  none  more  so  than  Maria  Theresa.  The 
King  ot  Prussia  was,  however,  in  a  deplorable  condition. 
The  veteran  army,  in  which  he  had  taken  so  much  pride,  was 
now  annihilated.  With  despotic  power  he  had  assembled  a 
new  army ;  but  it  was  composed  of  peasants,  raw  recruits,  but 
poorly  prepared  to  encounter  the  horrors  of  war.  The  allies 
were  marching  against  him  with  two  hundred  and  fifty  thou- 
sand men.  Frederic,  Avith  his  utmost  efforts,  could  muster 
but  seventy-five  thousand,  who,  to  use  his  own  language, 
"  were  half  peasants,  half  deserters  from  the  enemy,  soldiers 
no  longer  fit  for  service,  but  only  for  show." 

Month  after  month  passed  away,  during  which  the  whole  of 
Prussia  presented  the  aspect  of  one  wide  field  of  battle.  Fred- 
eric fought  with  the  energies  of  desperation.  Villages  were 
everywhere  blazing,  squadrons  charging,  and  the  thunders  of 
an  incessant  cannonade  deafened  the  ear  by  night  and  by  day, 
On  the  whole  the  campaign  terminated  in  favor  of  Frederic 
the  aUies  being  thwarted  in  all  their  endeavors  to  crush  hiia 
In  one  battle  Maria  Theresa  lost  twenty  thousand  men. 


MARIA       THBBBSA.  479 

During  the  ensuing  winter  all  the  continental  powers  were 
9gain  preparing  for  the  resumption  of  hostilities  in  tlie  spring 
*hen  the  British  people,  weary  of  the  enormous  expenditures 
of  the  war,  began  to  be  clamorous  for  peace.  The  French 
treasury  was  also  utterly  exhausted.  France  made  overtures 
to  England  tor  a  cessation  of  nostiiities;  and  these  two  pow« 
ers,  with  peaceful  overtures,  addressed  Maria  Theresa.  The 
queen,  though  fully  resolved  to  prosecute  the  war  until  she 
should  attain  her  object,  thought  it  not  prudent  to  reject 
outright  such  proposals,  but  consented  to  the  assembling  of  a 
congress  at  Augsburg.  Hostilities  were  not  suspended  dm-ing 
the  meeting  of  the  congress,  and  the  Austrian  queen  was  san. 
guine  in  the  hope  of  being  speedily  able  to  crush  her  Prussian 
rivaL  Every  general  in  the  field  had  expeiienced  such  terri- 
ble disasters,  and  the  fortune  of  war  seemed  so  fickle,  now 
lighting  upon  one  banner  and  now  upon  another,  that  all 
parties  were  wary,  practicing  the  extreme  of  caution,  and 
disposed  rather  to  act  upon  the  defensive.  Though  not  a 
single  pitched  battle  was  fought,  the  allies,  outnumbering  the 
Prussians,  three  to  one,  continualiy  gained  fortresses,  in- 
trenchments  and  positions,  until  the  spirit  even  of  Frederic 
was  broken  by  calamities,  and  he  yielded  to  despair.  He  no 
longer  hoped  to  be  able  to  preserve  his  empire,  but  proudly 
resolved  to  bury  himself  beneath  its  ruins.  His  despondency 
could  not  be  concealed  from  his  army,  and  his  bravest  troops 
declared  that  they  could  fight  no  longer, 

Maria  Theresa  was  elated  beyond  measure.  England  was 
withdrawing  from  Prussia.  Frederic  was  utterly  exhausted 
both  as  to  money  and  men :  one  campaign  more  would  finish 
the  work,  and  Prussia  would  lie  helpless  at  the  feet  of  Maria 
Theresa,  and  her  most  sanguine  anticipations  would  be  re- 
alieed.  But  the  deepest  laid  plans  of  man  are  often  thwarted 
by  apparently  the  most  trivial  events.  One  single  individual 
dianced  to  be  taken  sick  and  die.     That  individual  was  Ehza 

beth,  the  Empress  of  Russia.     On  the  5th  of  January,  1 762, 

U 


480  TBS     HOUSS     OP     AUSTBIA. 

she  was  lying  upon  her  bed  an  emaciate  suffering  woman, 
gasping  in  deatb.  Tbe  departure  of  ber  last  breatb  cbanged 
the  fate  of  Europe. 

Paul  III,,  her  nephqw,  who  succeeded  the  empress,  de- 
tested Maria  Thei'esa,  and  often  inveighed  bitterly  against  her 
haughtiness  and  her  ambition.  On  the  contrary,  he  admired 
the  King  of  Prussia.  He  had  visited  the  court  of  Berlin, 
where  he  had  been  received  with  marked  attention ;  and 
Frederic  was  his  model  of  a  hero.  He  had  watched  with  en- 
thusiastic admiration  the  fortitude  and  military  prowess  of  the 
Prussian  king,  and  had  even  sent  to  him  many  messages  of 
sympathy,  and  had  communicated  to  him  secrets  of  the  cabi- 
net and  their  plans  of  operation.  Now,  enthroned  as  Emperor 
of  Russia,  without  reserve  he  avowed  his  attachment  to  Fred- 
eric, and  ordered  his  troops  to  abstain  from  hostilities,  and 
to  quit  the  Austrian  army.  At  the  same  time  he  sent  a  min- 
ister to  Berlin  to  conclude  an  alliance  with  the  hero  he  so 
greatly  admired.  He  even  asked  for  himself  a  position  in  the 
Prussian  army  as  lieutenant  under  Frederic. 

The  Swedish  court  was  so  intimately  allied  with  that  of 
St.  Petersburg,  that  the  cabinet  of  Stockholm  also  withdrew 
from  the  Austrian  alliance,  and  thus  Maria  Thei'esa,  at  a  blow, 
lost  two  of  her  most  efficient  allies.  The  King  of  Prussia 
rose  immediately  from  his  despondency,  and  the  whole  king- 
dom shared  in  his  exultation  and  his  joy.  The  Piussiau 
troops,  in  conjunction  with  the  Russians,  were  now  superior 
to  the  Austrians,  and  were  prepared  to  assume  the  offensive. 
But  again  Providence  interposed.  A  conspiracy  was  formed 
against  the  Russian  emperor,  headed  by  his  wife  whom  he 
had  treated  with  great  brutality,  and  Paul  IH.  lost  both  his 
crown  and  his  life,  in  July  1762,  after  a  reign  of  less  than  six 
months. 

Catharine  II.,  wife  of  Paul  III.,  with  a  bloody  hand  took 
the  crown  from  the  brow  of  her  murdered  husband  and 
placed  it  upon  her  own  head.     She  immediately  dissolved  the 


I 


4 


MARIA     THEBB8A.  48] 

IVusdian  alliance,  declared  Frederic  an  enemy  to  the  Pruseiao 
name,  and  ordered  her  troops,  in  oodperation  with  those  of 
Austria,  to  resume  hoetilities  against  Frederic  It  was  an  in* 
stantaneous  change,  confounding  all  the  projects  of  man.  The 
energetic  Prussian  king,  before  the  Russian  troops  had  time 
eo  to  change  tlieir  positions  as  to  cooperate  with  the  Aus- 
trians,  assailed  the  troope  of  Maria  Theresa  with  such  im* 
petuosity  as  to  drive  them  oat  of  Silesia.  Pursuing  his  ad^ 
vantage  Frederic  overran  Saxony,  and  then  turning  into 
Bohemia,  drove  the  Austrians  before  him  to  the  walls  of 
Prague.  Influenced  by  these  disasters  and  other  considera- 
tions, Catharine  decided  to  retire  from  the  contest.  At  the 
same  time  the  Turks,  excited  by  Frederic,  commenced  anew 
their  invasion  of  Himgary.  Maria  Theresa  was  in  dbmay 
Her  money  was  gone.  Her  allies  were  dropping  from  her. 
The  Turks  were  advancing  triumphantly  up  the  Danube,  and 
Frederic  was  enriching  himself  with  the  spoils  of  Saxony  and 
Bohemia.  Influenced  by  these  considerations  she  made  over- 
tures for  peace,  consenting  to  renounce  Silesia,  for  the  re- 
covery of  which  province  she  had  in  vaua  caused  Europe  to  be 
desolated  with  blood  fo/  so  many  years.  A  treaty  of  peace 
was  soon  signed,  Frederic  agreeing  to  evacuate  Saxony ;  and 
thus  terminated  the  bloody  Seven  Years'  War. 

Maria  Theresa's  eldest  son  Joseph  was  now  twenty-three 
years  of  age.  Her  influence  and  that  of  the  Emperor  Francis 
was  such^  that  they  secured  his  election  to  succeed  to  the 
throne  of  the  empire  upon  the  death  of  his  father.  The 
emperor  elect  received  the  title  of  King  of  the  Romans.  The 
important  election  took  place  at  Frankfoit,  on  the  27th  of 
May.  1764.  The  health  of  the  Emperor  Francis  L,  had  for 
some  time  been  precarious,  he  being  threatened  with  apoplexy. 
Three  months  after  the  election  of  his  son  to  succeed  him  upon 
the  imperial  throne,  Francis  was  at  Inspruck  in  the  Tyrol,  to 
attend  the  nuptials  of  his  second  son  Leopold,  with  Maria 
Louisa,  infanta  of  Spain,     He  was  feeble  and  dejected,  and 


482  THE      HOUSB     OF     Al/STBIA. 

longed  to  return  to  his  home  in  Vienna.  He  imaginei  t\.m,\ 
the  bracing  air  of  the  Tyrol  did  not  agree  with  his  health,  and 
looking  out  upon  the  summits  which  tower  around  IiLspruck 
exclaimed, 

"  Oh !  if  I  could  but  once  quit  these  mountains  of  the 
Tyrol." 

On  the  morning  of  the  18th  of  August,  his  symptoms  as- 
sumed so  threatening  a  form,  that  his  friends  urged  him  to  be 
bled.     The  emperor  declined,  saying, 

"  I  am  engaged  this  evening  to  sup  with  Joseph,  and  T 
will  not  disappoint  him  ;  but  I  will  be  blooded  to-morrow." 

The  evening  came,  and  as  he  was  preparing  to  go  and  sup 
with  his  son,  he  dropped  instantly  dead  upon  the  floor.  Fifty- 
eight  years  was  his  allotted  pilgrimage — a  pilgimage  of  caro 
and  toil  and  sorrow.  Even  when  elevated  to  the  imperial 
throne,  his  position  was  humiliating,  being  ever  overshadowed 
by  the  grandeur  of  his  wife.  At  times  he  felt  this  most 
keenly,  and  could  not  refrain  from  giving  imprudent  utterance 
to  his  moi'tification.  Being  at  one  time  present  at  a  levee, 
which  the  empress  was  giving  to  her  subjects,  he  retired,  in 
chagrin,  from  the  imperial  circle  into  a  corner  of  the  saloon, 
and  took  his  seat  near  two  ladies  of  th«  court.  They  im- 
mediately, in  accordance  with  regal  etiquette,  rose. 

"  Do  not  regard  me,"  said  the  emperor  bitterly,  and  yet 
with  an  attempt  at  playfulness,  "  for  I  shall  remain  here  until 
the  court  has  retired,  and  shall  then  amuse  myself  in  contem- 
plating the  crowd." 

One  of  the  ladies  replied,  "  As  long  as  your  imperial  ma- 
jesty is  present  the  court  will  be  here." 

"  You  are  mistaken,"  rejoined  the  emperor,  with  a  forced 
smile ;  " the  empress  and  my  children  are  the  couit.  I  am 
here  only  as  a  private  individual." 

Francis  I.,  though  an  impotent  emperor,  would  have  made 
a  very  good  exchange  broker.  He  seemed  to  be  fond  of 
mercantile   life,  establishing   manufactories,    and   letting  out 


MABIA     THESB8A.  488 

money  on  bond  and  mortgage.  When  the  queen  was  gieatly 
pressed  tor  funds  he  would  sometimes  accept  her  paper, 
always  taking  care  to  obtain  the  most  unexceptionable  securitj. 
He  engaged  in  a  partnership  with  two  very  efficient  men  for 
lai'ming  the  revenues  of  Saxony.  He  even  entered  into  a  con- 
tract to  supply  the  Prussian  army  with  forage,  when  that 
army  was  expending  all  its  energies,  during  the  Seven  Years* 
War,  against  the  troops  of  Maria  Theresa.  He  judged  that 
his  wife  was  capable  of  taking  care  of  herself.  And  she  was. 
Notwithstanding  these  traits  of  character,  he  was  an  exceed- 
ingly amiable  and  charitable  man,  distributing  annually  five 
hundred  thousand  dollars  for  the  relief  of  distress.  Many 
anecdotes  are  related  illustrative  of  the  emperor^s  utter  fear- 
lessness of  danger,  and  of  the  kindness  of  his  heart.  There 
was  a  terrible  confl-agration  in  Vienna.  A  saltpeter  magazine 
was  in  flames,  and  the  operatives  exposed  to  great  danger. 
An  explosion  was  momentarily  expected,  and  the  firemen,  in 
dismay,  ventured  but  little  aid.  The  emperor,  regardless  of 
peril,  approached  near  the  fire  to  give  directions.  His  attend- 
ants urged  him  not  thus  to  expose  his  person. 

"  Do  not  be  alarmed  for  me,"  said  the  emperor,  "  think  only 
of  those  poor  creatures  who  are  in  such  danger  of  perishing.'* 

At  another  time  a  fearful  inundation  swept  the  valley  of 
the  Danube.  Many  houses  were  submerged  in  isolated  po« 
sitions,  all  but  their  roofs.  In  several  cases  the  families  had 
«aken  refuge  on  the  tops  of  the  houses,  and  had  remained 
three  days  and  three  nights  without  food.  Immense  blocks  of 
ice,  swept  down  by  the  flood,  seemed  to  render  it  impossible 
to  convey  relief  to  the  sufferers.  The  most  intrepid  boatmen 
of  the  Danube  dared  not  venture  into  the  boiling  surge.  The 
emperor  threw  himself  into  a  boat,  seized  the  oars,  and  saying, 
"  My  example  may  at  least  influence  others,"  pushed  out  into 
the  flood  and  successfully  rowed  to  one  of  the  houses.  The 
boatmen  were  shamed  into  heroism,  and  the  imperiled  people 
were  saved. 


454  THB     HOUSB     OF     AtTSTBIA. 

Maria  Theresa  does  not  appear  to  jave  been  very  deeply 
afflicted  by  the  death  of  her  husband  j  or  we  should,  perhapa, 
rather  say  that  her  grief  assumed  the  character  which  one 
would  anticipate  from  a  person  of  her  peculiar  frame  of  mind. 
The  emperor  had  not  been  faithful  to  his  kingly  spouse,  and 
she  was  well  acquainted  with  his  numerous  infidelities.  StiU 
she  seems  affectionately  to  have  cherished  the  memory  of  his 
gentle  virtues.  With  her  own  hands  she  prepared  his  shroud, 
and  she  never  after  laid  aside  her  weeds  of  mourning.  She 
often  descended  into  the  vault  where  his  remains  were  depos- 
ited, and  passed  hours  in  prayer  by  the  side  of  his  coffin 

Joseph,  of  course,  having  been  preelected,  immediately 
assumed  the  imperial  crown.  Maria  Theresa  had  but  little 
time  to  devote  to  grief  She  had  lost  Silesia,  and  that  was  a 
calamity  apparently  far  heavier  than  the  death  of  her  husband. 
Millions  of  treasure,  and  countless  thousands  of  lives  had  been 
expended,  and  all  in  vain,  for  the  recovery  of  that  province. 
She  now  began  to  look  around  for  territory  she  could  grasp 
in  compensation  for  her  loss.  Poland  was  surrounded  by 
Austria,  Russia  and  Prussia.  The  population  consisted  of 
two  classes — the  nobles  who  possessed  all  the  power,  and  the 
people  who  were  in  a  state  of  the  most  abject  feudal  vassalage. 
By  the  laws  of  Poland  every  person  was  a  nobie  who  was  not 
engaged  in  any  industrial  occupation  and  who  owned  any  land, 
or  who  had  descended  from  those  who  ever  had  held  any  land. 
The  government  was  what  may  perhaps  be  called  an  aristo- 
cratic  republic.  The  masses  were  mere  slaves.  The  nobles 
were  in  a  state  of  political  equality.  They  chose  a  chieftain 
whom  they  called  Mng^  but  whose  power  was  a  mere  shadow. 
At  this  time  Poland  was  in  a  state  of  anarchy.  Civil  war 
desolated  the  kingdom,  the  nobles  being  divided  into  nume- 
rous factions,  and  fighting  fiercely  against  each  other.  Catha- 
rine, the  Empress  of  Russia,  espoused  the  cause  of  her  favor 
ite,  Count  Poniatowski,  who  was  one  of  the  candidates  for 
the   crown   of  Poland,  and   by  the  influence  of  her  money 


UARIA       THBRESA  485 

fluid  her  armies  placed  him  upon  tlie  throne  and  maintained 
him  there.  Poland  thus,  under  the  influence  of  the  Russian 
queen,  became,  as  it  were,  a  mere  province  of  the  Russian 
empire. 

Poniatowski,  a  proud  man,  soon  felt  galled  by  the  chaina 
which  Catharine  threw  around  him.  Frederic  of  Prussia 
united  with  Catharine  in  the  endeavor  to  make  Poniatowski 
subservient  to  their  wishes.  Maria  Theresa  eagerly  put  in 
ber  claim  for  influence  in  Poland.  Thus  the  whole  realm 
became  a  confused  scene  of  bloodshed  and  devastation. 
Frederic  of  Prussia,  the  great  regal  highwayman,  now  pro- 
posed to  Austria  and  Russia  that  they  should  settle  all  the 
difficulty  by  just  dividing  Poland  between  them.  To  their 
united  armies  Poland  could  present  no  resistance,  Maria 
Theresa  sent  her  dutiful  son  Joseph,  the  emperor,  to  Silesia. 
to  confer  with  Frederic  upon  this  subject.  The  interview 
took  place  at  Neiss,  on  the  25th  of  August,  1769.  The  two 
sovereigns  vied  with  each  other  in  the  interchange  of  courte- 
sies, and  parted  most  excellent  friends.  Soon  after,  they  held 
another  interview  at  Neustadt,  in  Moravia,  when  the  long 
rivalry  between  the  houses  of  Hapsburg  and  Brandenburg 
seemed  to  melt  down  into  most  cordial  union.  The  map  of 
Poland  was  placed  before  the  two  sovereigns,  and  they 
marked  out  the  portion  of  booty  to  be  assigned  to  each  of  the 
three  imperial  highwaymen.  The  troops  of  Russia,  Austria 
and  Prussia  wei-e  already  in  Poland.  The  matter  being  thus 
settled  between  Prussia  and  Austria,  the  Prussian  king  im- 
mediately conferred  with  Catharine  at  St.  Petersburg.  This 
ambitious  and  unprincipled  woman  snatched  at  the  bait  pre- 
sented, and  the  infamous  partition  was  agreed  to.  Maria 
Theresa  was  very  greedy,  and  demanded  nearly  half  of  Poland 
as  her  share.  This  exorbitant  claim,  which  she  with  much 
pertinacity  adhered  to,  so  ofiended  the  two  other  sovereigns 
that  they  came  near  fighting  about  the  division  of  the  spoil 
The  queen  was  at  length  compelled  to  lower  her  pretensions, 


466  TBE     HOnSB     OF    AUSTUIA. 

The  fiual  treaty  was  signed  between  the  three  powers  aa  the 
dth  of  August,  1772. 

The  three  armies  were  immediatdy  pot  io  motion,  and 
each  took  possession  of  that  portion  of  the  Poli^  territory 
which  was  assigned  to  its  sovereign.  In  a  few  days  the  deed 
was  done.  By  this  adi  Austria  received  an  accession  of 
twenty-seven  thousand  sqnare  miles  of  the  richest  of  the 
Polish  territory,  containing  a  population  of  two  million  five 
hundred  thousand  souls.  Russia  received  a  more  inhospitaUe 
region,  embracing  forty-two  thousand  square  miles,  and  a 
population  of  one  million  five  hundred  thousand.  The  share 
of  Frederic  amounted  to  thirteen  thousand  three  hundred  and 
seventy>five  square  miles,  and  eight  hundred  and  sixty  thoo* 
sand  souls. 

Notwithstanding  this  cruel  dismemberment,  there  WM 
still  a  feeble  Poland  left,  upon  which  the  three  powers  were 
continually  gnawing,  each  watching  the  others,  and  snarling 
at  them  lest  they  should  get  more  than  their  share.  After 
twenty  years  of  jealous  watchings  the  three  powers  decided 
to  finish  their  in&mous  work,  and  Poland  was  blotted  from 
the  map  of  Europe.  In  the  two  divisions  Austria  received 
forty-five  thousand  square  miles  and  five  million  of  inhabit* 
ants.  Maria  Theresa  was  now  upon  the  highest  pinnacle  of 
her  glory  and  her  power.  She  had  a  highly  disciplined  army 
of  two  hundred  thousand  men ;  her  treasury  was  replenished, 
«nd  her  wide-spread  realms  were  in  the  enjoyment  of  peace. 
Life  had  been  to  her,  thus  ^,  but  a  stormy  sea,  and  weary 
of  toil  and  care,  she  now  hoped  to  close  her  days  in  tranqoii- 
lity, 

*! fars  qaeen  was  a  stem  and  stately  mother.  While  pressed 
by  all  these  cares  of  state,  sufficient  to  have  crushed  any  ordi< 
nary  mind,  she  had  given  birth  to  sixteen  children.  But  aa 
each  child  was  bom  it  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  carefiii 
nurses,  and  received  but  little  of  parental  caressiogs.  It  was 
seldom  that  she  saw  her  diildren   more  than  once  a  week 


MABIA     THERESA.  487 

Absorbed  by  high  political  interests,  she  contented  herself 
with  receiving  a  daily  report  from  the  nursery.  Every  morn- 
ing her  physician,  Van  Swieter,  visited  the  young  imperial 
family,  and  then  presented  a  formal  statement  of  their  con- 
dition to  the  strong-minded  mother.  Yet  the  empress  was 
very  desirous  of  having  it  understood  that  she  was  the  most 
feithful  of  parents.  Whenever  any  foreign  ambassador  ar- 
rived at  Vienna,  the  empress  would  contrive  to  have  an  inter- 
view, as  it  were  by  accident,  when  she  had  collected  around 
her  her  interesting  family.  As  the  illustrious  stranger  retired 
the  children  also  retired  to  their  nursery. 

One  of  tbe  daughters,  Josepha,  was  betrothed  to  the  King 
of  Naples.  A  few  days  before  she  was  to  leave  Vienna  the 
queen  required  her,  in  obedience  to  long  established  etiquette, 
to  descend  into  the  tomb  of  her  ancestors  and  offer  up  a 
prayer.  The  sister-in-law,  the  Emperor  Joseph's  wife,  had 
iust  died  of  the  small-pox,  and  her  remains,  disfigured  by  that 
awful  disease,  had  but  recently  been  deposited  in  the  tomb. 
The  timid  maiden  was  horror-stricken  at  the  requirement, 
and  regarded  it  as  her  death  doom.  But  an  order  from 
Maria  Theresa  no  one  was  to  disobey.  With  tears  filling  her 
eyes,  she  took  her  younger  sister,  Maria  Antoinette,  upon  her 
knee,  and  said, 

"  I  am  about  to  leave  you,  Maria,  not  for  Naples,  but  to 
die.  I  must  visit  the  tomb  of  our  ancestors,  and  I  am  sure 
that  I  shall  take  the  small-pox,  and  shall  soon  be  buried 
there."  Her  fears  were  verified.  The  disease,  in  its  most 
virulent  form,  seized  her,  and  in  a  few  days  her  remains  wero 
also  consigned  to  the  tomb. 

In  May,  1770,  Maria  Antoinette,  then  but  fifteen  years  ol 
age,  and  marvelously  beautiful,  was  married  to  the  young 
dauphin  of  France,  subsequently  the  unhappy  Louis  XVI. 
As  she  left  Vienna,  for  that  throne  from  which  she  was  to  de- 
scend to  the  guillotine,  her  mother  sent  by  her  hand  the  fbl. 
lowing  letter  to  her  husband ; 


^)88  THE     HOUSE     OF     AUSTRIA, 

"  Your  bride,  dear  dauphin,  is  separated  from  jae.  As  die 
has  ever  been  my  delight  so  will  she  be  your  happiness.  For 
this  purpose  have  I  educated  her ;  for  I  have  long  been  aware 
that  she  was  to  be  the  companion  of  your  life.  I  have  en- 
joined upon  her,  as  among  her  highest  duties,  the  most  tender 
attachment  to  your  person,  the  greatest  attention  to  every 
thing  that  can  please  or  make  you  happy.  Above  all,  I  have 
recommended  to  her  humility  towards  God,  because  I  am  con- 
vinced that  it  is  impossible  for  us  to  contribute  to  the  happi* 
ness  of  the  subjects  confided  to  us,  without  love  to  Him  who 
breaks  the  scepters  and  crushes  the  thrones  of  kings  accord- 
ing to  His  own  will.'* 

In  December,  177V,  the  Duke  of  Bavaria  died  without 
male  issue.  Many  claimants  instantly  rose,  ambitious  of  so 
princely  an  ioheritance.  Maria  Theresa  could  not  resist  the 
temptation  to  put  in  her  claim.  With  her  accustomed  prompt- 
ness, she  immediately  ordered  her  troops  in  motion,  and,  de- 
scending from  Bohemia,  entered  the  electorate.  Maria  The- 
resa  had  no  one  to  fear  but  Frederic  of  Prussia,  who  vehe- 
mently remonstrated  against  such  an  accession  of  power  to 
the  empire  of  Austria.  After  an  earnest  correspondence  the 
queen  proposed  that  Bavaria  should  be  divided  between  them 
as  they  had  partitioned  Poland.  Still  they  could  not  agree, 
and  the  question  was  submitted  to  the  cruel  arbitrament  of 
battle.  The  young  Emperor  Joseph  was  much  pleased  with 
this  issue,  for  he  was  thirsting  for  military  fame,  and  was 
proud  to  contend  with  so  renowned  an  antagonist.  The 
death  of  hundreds  of  thousands  of  men  in  the  game  of  war, 
was  of  little  more  moment  to  him  than  the  loss  of  a  few 
pieces  in  a  game  of  chess. 

The  Emperor  Joseph  was  soon  at  the  head  of  one  hundred 
thousand  men.  The  King  of  Prussia,  with  nearly  an  equal 
force,  marched  to  meet  him.  Both  commanders  were  exceed- 
ingly wary,  and  the  whole  campaign  was  passed  in  maneu- 
vecs  and  marchings,  with  a  few  unimportant   battles.      Th* 


MABIA     TnERESA.  489 

^neen  was  weary  of  war,  and  often  spoke,  with  tears  in  her 
tyes,  of  the  commencement  of  hostilities.  Without  the 
knowledge  of  her  son,  who  rejoiced  in  the  opening  strife,  she 
entered  into  a  private  correspondence  with  Frederic,  in  which 
she  wrote,  by  her  secret  messenger,  M.  Thugut : 

"  I  regret  exceedingly  that  the  King  of  Prussia  and  my- 
self, in  our  advanced  years,  are  about  to  tear  the  gray  hairs 
from  each  other's  heads.  My  age,  and  my  earnest  desire  to 
maintain  peace  are  well  known.  My  maternal  heart  is  alarmed 
for  tlie  safety  of  my  sons  who  are  in  the  army.  I  take  this 
step  without  the  knowledge  of  my  son  the  emperor,  and  I  en- 
treat that  you  will  not  divulge  it.  I  conjure  you  to  unite 
your  efforts  with  mine  to  reestablish  harmony." 

The  reply  of  Frederic  was  courteous  and  beautiful. 
"  Bai-on  Thugut,"  he  wrote,  "  has  delivered  me  your  ma- 
jesty's letter,  and  no  one  is,  or  shall  be  acquainted  with  his 
arrival.  It  was  worthy  of  your  majesty  to  give  such  proofs 
of  moderation,  after  having  so  heroically  maintained  the  in- 
heritance of  your  ancestors.  The  tender  attachment  you  dis- 
play for  your  son  the  emperor,  and  the  princes  of  your  blood, 
deserves  the  applause  of  every  heart,  and  augments,  if  possi- 
ble, the  high  consideration  I  entertain  for  your  majesty.  I 
have  added  some  articles  to  the  propositions  of  M.  Thugut, 
most  of  which  have  been  allowed,  and  others  which,  I  hope, 
will  meet  with  little  difficulty.  He  will  immediately  depart 
for  Vienna,  and  will  be  able  to  return  in  five  or  six  days,  dur- 
ing which  time  I  will  act  with  such  caution  that  your  im- 
perial majesty  may  have  no  cause  of  apprehension  for  the 
safety  of  any  part  of  your  family,  and  particularly  of  the  em- 
peror, whom  I  love  and  esteem,  although  our  opinions  differ 
in  regard  to  the  affairs  of  Germany." 

But  the  Emperor  Joseph  was  bitterly  opposed  to  peace, 
and  thwarted  his  mother's  benevolent  intentions  in  every  pos- 
sible way.  Still  the  empress  succeeded,  and  the  articles  were 
signed  at  Teschen,  the  13th  day  of  May,  1779.     The  queoo 


t9C  THE      HOUSE     OF     AUSTRIA. 

was  overjoyed  at  the  result,  and  was  often  heard  to  say  thai 
no  act  of  her  administration  had  given  her  such  heartfelt  joy 
When  she  received  the  news  she  exclaimed, 

"  My  happiness  is  full.  I  am  not  partial  to  Frederic,  but 
I  must  do  him  the  justice  to  confess  that  he  has  acted  nobly 
and  honorably.  He  promised  me  to  make  peace  on  reason- 
able terms,  and  he  has  kept  his  word.  I  am  inexpressibly 
happy  to  spare  the  effusion  of  so  much  blood." 

The  hour  was  now  approaching  when  Maria  Theresa  was 
to  die.  She  had  for  some  time  been  failing  from  a  disease  of 
the  lungs,  and  she  was  now  rapidly  declining.  Her  sufferings, 
as  she  took  her  chamber  and  her  bed,  became  very  severe; 
but  the  stoicism  of  her  character  remained  unshaken.  In  one 
of  her  seasons  of  acute  agony  she  exclaimed, 

"  God  grant  that  these  sufferings  may  soon  terminate,  for, 
otherwise,  I  know  not  if  I  can  much  longer  endure  them." 

Her  son  Maximilian  stood  by  her  bed-side.  She  raised  he* 
eyes  to  him  and  said, 

"  I  have  been  enabled  thus  far  to  bear  these  pangs  with 
firmness  and  constancy.  Pray  to  God,  my  son,  that  I  may 
preserve  my  tranquillity  to  the  last." 

The  dying  hour,  long  sighed  for,  came.  She  partook  of 
the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  and  then,  assembling  her 
family  around  her,  addressed  to  them  her  last  words. 

"  I  have  received  the  sacraments,"  said  she,  "  and  feel  that 
I  am  now  to  die."  Then  addressing  the  emperor,  she  con- 
tinued, "  My  son,  all  my  possessions  after  my  death  revert  to 
you.  To  your  care  I  commend  my  children.  Be  to  them  a 
father.  I  shall  die  contented,  you  giving  me  that  promise." 
Then  looking  to  the  other  children  she  added,  "  Regard  the 
emperor  as  your  sovereign.  Obey  him,  respect  him,  confide 
in  him,  and  follow  his  advice  in  all  things,  and  you  will  secure 
his  friendship  and  protection." 

Her  mind  continued  active  and  intensely  occupied  with  the 
afi^rs  of  her  family  and  of  her  kingdom,  until  the  very  last 


MABIA      THSRESa.  491 

moment.  During  the  night  succeeding  her  final  interview 
with  her  children,  though  suflfering  frcm  repeated  tits  of  suffo- 
cation, she  held  a  long  interview  with  the  emperor  upon  affaira 
of  state.  Her  son,  distressed  by  her  evident  exhaustion,  en- 
treated her  to  take  some  repose ;  but  she  replied, 

"  In  a  few  hours  I  shall  appear  before  the  judgment-seat 
of  God  ;  and  would  you  have  me  lose  my  time  in  sleep?" 

Expressing  solicitude  in  behalf  of  the  numerous  persona 
dependent  upon  her,  who,  after  her  death,  might  be  left  friend- 
less, she  remarked, 

"  I  could  wish  for  immortality  on  earth,  for  no  other 
reason  than  for  the  power  of  relieving  the  distressed." 

She  died  on  the  29th  of  November,  1780,  in  the  sixty- 
fourth  year  of  her  age  and  the  forty-first  of  her  reign. 

This  illustrious  woman  had  given  birth  to  six  sons  and 
ten  daughters.  Nine  of  these  children  survived  her.  Joseph 
already  emperor,  succeeded  her  upon  the  throne  of  Austiia 
and  dying  childless,  surrendered  the  crown  to  his  next  brother 
Leopold,  Ferdinand,  the  third  son,  became  governor  of  Aus- 
trian Lombardy.  Upon  Maximilian  was  conferred  the  eleo» 
torate  of  Cologne.  Mary  Anne  became  abbess  of  a  nunnery. 
Christina  married  the  Duke  of  Sa  tony.  Elizabeth  entered  a 
convent  and  became  abbess.  Caioline  married  the  King  of 
Naples,  and  was  an  infamous  woman.  Her  sister  Joanna,  was 
first  betrothed  to  the  king,  but  she  died  of  small-pox; 
Josepha  was  then  destined  to  supply  her  place ;  but  she  also 
fell  a  victim  to  that  terrible  disease.  Thus  the  situation  was 
vacant  for  Caroline.  Maria  Antoinette  married  Louis  the 
dauphin,  and  the  story  of  her  woes  has  filled  the  world. 

The  Emperor  Joseph  II.,  who  now  inherited  the  crown  of 
Austria,  was  forty  years  of  age,  a  man  of  strong  mind,  edu- 
cated by  observation  and  travel,  rather  than  by  books.  He 
was  anxious  to  elevate  and  educate  his  subjects,  declaring  that 
it  was  his  great  ambition  to  rule  over  freemen.  He  had  many 
noble  traits  of  character,  and  innumerable  anecdotes  are  re 


492  THB     HOUSE     OF     AUSTRIA. 

lated  illustrative  of  his  energy  and  humanity.  In  war  he  was 
ambitious  of  taking  his  full  share  of  hardship,  sleeping  on  the 
bare  ground  and  partaking  of  the  soldiers'  homely  fare.  He 
was  exceedingly  popular  at  the  time  of  his  accession  to  the 
throne,  and  great  anticipations  were  cherished  of  a  golden  age 
about  to  dawn  upon  Austria.  "His  toilet,"  writes  one  of 
his  eulogists,  "  is  that  of  a  common  soldier,  his  wardrobe  that 
of  a  sergeant,  business  his  recreation,  and  his  life  perpetual 
motion." 

The  Austrian  monarchy  now  embraced  one  hundred  and 
eighty  thousand  square  miles,  containing  twenty-four  millions 
of  inhabitants.  It  was  indeed  a  heterogeneous  realm,  com- 
posed of  a  vast  number  of  distinct  nations  and  provinces, 
differing  in  language,  religion,  government,  laws,  customs  and 
civilization.  In  most  of  these  countries  the  feudal  system  ex- 
isted in  all  its  direful  oppression.  Many  of  the  provinces  of 
the  Austrian  empire,  like  the  Netherlands,  Lombardy  and 
Suabia,  were  separated  by  many  leagues  from  the  great  cen- 
tral empire.  The  Roman  Catholic  religion  was  dominant  in 
nearly  all  the  States,  and  the  clergy  possessed  enormous 
wealth  and  power.  The  masses  of  the  people  were  sunk  in 
the  lowest  depths  of  povei  *^y  and  ignorance.  The  aristooratic 
few  rejoiced  in  luxury  and  splendor. 


CHAPTER    XXXI. 

JOSEPH    II.    AND    LEOPOLD,    II. 

Fbom  1780  TO  1792. 

kmowsNos  OF  JOSEPH  II. — His  Plans  op  Befobm. — Pins  TL — EMANovAtiOK  or  tn 

Serfs.— Joseth's  Visit  to  his  Sisteb,  Mabia  Antodjettb. — Ambitious  DBHaB& 
—The  Impeeiai.  Bleiuh  Ride. — Baboes  on  the  Dnkistbr. — Exoubsion  to  tob 
Crimea. — War  wrni  Titeket. — Defeat  of  the  Austbians. — Oebat  Strocmsm— 
Death  of  Joseph. — His  Chaeaotke. — Aooession  of  Leopold  II. — His  Sffobss 
to  confirm  Despotism. — The  Fbenoh  Bevolution. — Eitropban  Coalition.^ 
Death  of  Leopold. — His  Pbofugaoy. — Aooession  of  Feanom  II. — ^Pbesbnt  Bs« 

TENT  AND   POWBE  OF   AUSTRIA. — ItB   ABMT. — POLIOT  OF  THB  QOTBBNMSNT. 

ITIHEN  Joseph  ascended  the  throne  there  were  ten  Ian- 
''''  guages,  besides  several  dialects,  spoken  in  Austria — ^the 
German,  Hungarian,  Sclavonian,  Latin,  Wallachian,  Turkish, 
modern  Greek,  Italian,  Flemish  and  French.  The  new  king 
formed  the  desperate  resolve  to  fuse  the  discordant  kingdom 
into  one  homogeneous  mass,  obliterating  all  distinctions  oi 
laws,  religion,  language  and  manners.  It  was  a  benevolent  de- 
sign, but  one  which  far  surpassed  the  power  of  man  to  exe- 
cute. He  first  attempted  to  obliterate  all  the  old  national  land- 
marks, and  divided  the  kingdom  into  thirteen  States,  in  each 
of  which  he  instituted  the  same  code  of  laws.  He  ordered 
the  German  language  alone  to  be  used  in  public  documents 
and  offices  ;  declared  the  Roman  Catholic  religion  to  he  domi- 
nant. There  were  two  thousand  convents  in  Austria.  He 
reduced  them  to  seven  hundred,  and  cut  down  the  number 
of  thirty-two  thousand  idle  monks  to  twenty-seven  hundred ; 
and  nobly  issued  an  edict  of  toleration,  granting  to  all  nieia> 


494  THB    HOUSE    OF     AUSTRIA. 

bers  of  Protestant  churches  the  free  exercise  of  their  religioa 
Al'  Christians,  of  every  denomination,  were  declared  to  be 
equally  eligible  to  any  oflSces  in  the  State. 

These  enlightened  innovations  roused  the  terror  and  rage 
of  bigoted  Rome.  PojDe  Pius  YI.  was  so  much  alarmed  that 
he  took  a  journey  to  Vienna,  that  he  might  personally  remon* 
Btrate  with  the  emperor.  But  Joseph  was  inflexible,  and  the 
Pope  returned  to  Rome  chagrined  and  humiliated  that  he  had 
acted  the  part  of  a  suppliant  in  vain. 

The  serfs  were  all  emancipated  from  feudal  vassalage,  and 
thus,  in  an  hour,  the  slavery  under  which  the  peasants  had 
groaned  for  ages  was  abolished.  He  established  universities, 
academies  and  public  schools  ;  encouraged  literature  and 
science  in  every  way,  and  took  from  the  priests  their  office 
of  censorship  of  the  press,  an  office  which  they  had  long  held. 
To  encourage  domestic  manufactures  he  imposed  a  very  heavy 
duty  upon  all  articles  of  foreign  manufacture.  New  roads 
were  constructed  at  what  was  called  enormous  expense,  and 
yet  at  expense  which  was  as  nothing  compared  with  the  cost 
of  a  single  battle. 

Joseph,  soon  after  his  coronation,  made  a  visit  to  his  sister 
Maria  Antoinette  in  France,  where  he  was  received  with  the 
most  profuse  hospitality,  and  the  bonds  of  friendship  between 
the  two  courts  were  much  strengthened.  The  ambition  for 
territorial  aggrandizement  seems  to  have  been  an  hereditary 
disease  of  the  Austrian  monarchs.  Joseph  was  very  anxious 
to  attach  Bavaria  to  his  realms.  Proceeding  with  great  cau- 
tion he  first  secured,  by  diplomatic  skill,  the  non-intervention 
of  France  and  Russia.  England  was  too  much  engaged  in 
the  war  of  the  American  Revolution  to  interfere.  He  raised 
an  army  of  eighty  thousand  men  to  crush  any  opposition,  and 
then  informed  the  Duke  of  Bavaria  that  he  must  exchange 
his  dominions  for  the  Austrian  Netherlands.  He  requested 
the  duke  to  give  him  an  answer  in  eight  days,  but  declared 
peremptorily  that  in  case  he  manifested  any  reluctance,  the 


JOSBPH     II.  40§ 

emperor  wouli  be  under  the  painfhl  necessity  of  compelling 

dim  to  make  the  exchange. 

The  duke  appealed  to  Russia,  France  and  Prussia  for  aid. 
The  emperor  had  bought  over  Russia  and  France.  Frederic 
of  Prussia,  though  seventy-four  years  of  age,  encouraged  the 
duke  to  reject  the  proposal,  and  promised  his  support.  The 
King  of  Prussia  issued  a  remonstrance  against  this  despotic 
act  of  Austria,  which  remonstrance  was  sent  to  all  the  courts 
of  Europe.  Joseph,  on  encountering  this  unexpected  ob- 
stacle, and  finding  Europe  combining  against  him,  renounced 
his  plan  and  published  a  declaratiou  that  he  had  never  in- 
tended to  effect  the  exchange  by  force.  This  disavowal,  how- 
ever, deceived  no  one.  A  confederacy  was  soon  formed, 
under  the  auspices  of  Frederic  of  Prussia,  to  check  the  en- 
croachments of  the  house  of  Austria.  This  Germanic  League 
was  almost  the  last  act  of  Frederic.  He  died  August  17, 
1786,  after  a  reign  of  forty-seven  years,  in  the  seventy- fifth 
year  of  his  age. 

The  ambitious  Empress  of  Russia,  having  already  obtained 
the  Crimea,  was  intent  upon  the  subversion  of  the  Ottoman 
empire,  that  she  might  acquire  Constantinople  as  her  mari- 
time metropolis  in  the  sunny  south.  Joseph  was  willing  to 
allow  her  to  proceed  unobstructed  in  the  dismemberment  of 
Turkey,  if  she  would  not  interfere  with  his  plans  of  reform 
and  aggrandizement  in  Germany, 

In  January,  1787,  the  Empress  of  Russia  set  out  on  a  plea- 
bure  excursion  of  two  thousand  miles  to  the  Crimea ;  perhaps 
the  most  magnificent  pleasure  excursion  that  was  ever  at- 
tempted. She  was  accompanied  by  all  the  court,  by  the 
French,  English  and  Austrian  ministers,  and  by  a  very  gor- 
geous retinue.  It  was  mid- winter,  when  the  imperial  party, 
wrapped  in  furs,  and  in  large  sledges  richly  decorated,  and 
prepared  expressly  for  the  journey,  commenced  their  sleigh 
ride  of  a  thousand  miles.  Music  greeted  them  all  along  the 
way ;   bonfires  I  lazed  on  every  hill  ;   palaces,  brilliant  witb 


496  THE     HOUSE     OF      AU9TBIA 

illuminations  and  profusely  supplied  with  every  luxury,  wei 
corned  them  at  each  stage  where  they  stopped  for  refresh- 
ment or  repose.  The  roads  were  put  in  perfect  order ;  and 
relays  of  fresh  horses  every  few  miles  being  harnessed  to  the 
sledges,  they  swept  like  the  wind  over  the  hills  and  through 
the  valleys. 

Tlie  drive  of  a  few  weeks,  with  many  loiterings  for  plea. 
sure  in  the  cities  on  the  way,  took  them  to  Kief  on  the  Dnie- 
per. This  ancient  city,  the  residence  of  the  grand  dukes  of 
Russia,  contained  a  population  of  about  twenty-six  thousand. 
Here  the  imperial  court  jstablished  itself  in  the  ducal  palaces, 
and  with  music,  songs  and  dances  beguiled  the  days  until, 
with  the  returning  spring,  the  river  opened.  In  the  mean- 
time  an  immense  flotilla  of  imperial  barges  had  been  prepared 
lo  drift  down  the  stream,  a  thousand  miles,  to  its  mouth  at 
Kherson,  where  the  river  flows  into  the  Black  sea.  These 
barges  were  of  magnificent  dimensions,  floating  palaces,  con- 
taining gorgeous  saloons  and  spacious  sleeping  apartments. 
As  they  were  constructed  merely  to  float  upon  the  rapid  cur- 
rent of  the  stream,  impelled  by  sails  when  the  breeze  should 
fevor,  they  could  easily  be  provided  with  all  the  appliances  of 
luxury.  It  is  diflScult  to  conceive  of  a  jaunt  which  would 
present  more  of  the  attractions  of  pleasure,  than  thus  to  glide 
in  saloons  of  elegance,  with  imperial  resources  and  surrounded 
by  youth,  beauty,  genius  and  rank,  for  a  thousand  miles  down 
the  current  of  one  of  the  wildest  and  most  romantic  streams 
of  Europe. 

It  was  a  beautiful  sunny  morning  of  May,  when  the  regal 
party,  accompanied  by  the  music  of  military  bands,  and  with 
floating  banners,  entered  the  barges.  The  river,  broad  and 
deop,  rolls  on  with  majestic  flow,  now  through  dense  forests, 
black  and  gloomy,  where  the  barking  of  the  bear  is  heard  and 
wolves  hold  their  nightly  carousals;  now  it  winds  through 
vast  prairies  hundreds  of  miles  in  extent ;  again  it  bursts 
through  mountain  barriers  where  clifis   and  crags  rise  sub 


JOSEPH     II.  49} 

limely  thousands  of  feet  in  the  air;  here  with  precipitous  sides 
of  granite,  bleak  and  scathed  by  the  storms  of  centuries,  and 
there  with  gloomy  firs  and  pines  rising  to  the  clouds,  where 
eagles  soar  and  scream  and  rear  their  young.  Flocks  and 
herds  now  graze  upon  the  banks;  here  lies  the  scattered 
village,  and  its  whole  population,  half  civilized  men,  and 
matrons  and  maidens  in  antique,  grotesque  attire,  crowd  the 
shores.  Now  the  pinnacles  and  the  battlements  of  a  great 
city  rise  to  view.  Armies  were  gathered  at  several  points  to 
entertain  the  imperial  pleasure-party  with  all  the  pomp  and 
pageantry  of  war.  At  Pultowa  they  witnessed  the  maneuver- 
ings  of  a  battle,  with  its  thunderings  and  uproar  and  apparent 
carnage — the  exact  representation  of  the  celebrated  battle  of 
Pultowa,  which  Peter  the  Great  gained  on  the  spot  over 
Charles  XII.  of  Sweden. 

The  Emperor  Joseph  had  been  invited  to  join  this  party, 
and,  with  his  court  and  retinue,  was  to  meet  them  at  Kherson, 
near  the  mouth  of  the  Dneister,  and  accompany  the  empress 
to  the  Crimea.  But,  perhaps  attracted  by  the  splendor  of  the 
water  excursion,  he  struck  across  the  country  in  a  north-east 
direction,  by  the  way  of  Lemberg,  some  six  hundred  miles,  to 
intercept  the  flotilla  and  join  the  party  on  the  river.  But  the 
water  of  the  river  suddenly  fell,  and  some  hundred  miles 
above  Kherson,  the  flotilla  ran  upon  a  sand  bar  and  could  not 
be  Ibrced  over.  The  empress,  who  was  apprised  of  the  ap- 
proach of  the  emperor,  too  proud  to  be  found  in  such  a 
situation,  hastily  abandoned  the  flotilla,  and  taking  the  car- 
riages which  they  had  with  them,  drove  to  meet  Joseph. 
The  two  imperial  suites  were  soon  united,  and  they  swept  on, 
a  glittering  cavalcade,  to  Kherson.  Joseph  and  Catharine 
rode  in  a  carriage  together,  where  they  had  ample  opportu- 
nity of  talking  over  all  their  plans  of  mutual  aggrandizement. 
As  no  one  was  permitted  to  listen  to  their  conversations,  their 
decisions  can  only  be  guessed  at. 

They  entered  the  city  of  Kherson,  then  containing  about 


ii)8  THE     HOUSE     OF     AUSTRIA. 

aRXty  thousand  inhabitants,  surrounded  by  all  the  magnificence 
which  Bossian  and  Austrian  opulence  could  exhibit.  A  tri* 
nmphal  arch  spanned  the  gate,  upon  which  was  inscribed  in 
letters  of  gold,  "  The  road  to  Byzantium."  Four  days  were 
passed  here  in  revelry.  The  party  then  entered  the  Crimea, 
and  continued  their  journey  as  far  as  Sevastopol,  where  the 
empress  was  delighted  to  find,  within  its  capacious  harbor, 
many  Russian  frigates  at  anchor.  Immense  sums  were  ex- 
pended in  furnishing  entertainments  by  the  way.  At  Batche- 
seria,  where  the  two  sovereigns  occupied  the  ancient  palace 
of  the  khans,  they  looked  out  upon  a  mountain  in  a  blaze  of 
illumination,  and  apparently  pouring  lava  floods  from  its 
artificial  volcanic  crater. 

Joseph  returned  to  Vienna,  and  immediately  there  was 
war — Austria  and  Russia  against  Turkey.  Joseph  was  anxious 
to  secure  the  provinces  of  Bosnia,  Servia,  Moldavia  and  Wal- 
laehia,  and  to  extend  his  empire  to  the  Dneister.  With  great 
vigor  he  made  his  preparations,  and  an  army  of  two  hundred 
thousand  men,  with  two  thousand  pieces  of  artillery,  were 
speedily  on  the  march  down  the  Danube.  Catharine  was 
equally  energetic  in  her  preparations,  and  all  the  north  of 
Europe  seemed  to  be  on  the  march  for  the  overthrow  of  the 
Ottoman  empire. 

Proverbially  fickle  are  the  fortunes  of  war.  Joseph  com- 
menced the  siege  of  Belgrade  with  high  hopes.  He  was 
ignominiously  defeated,  and  his  troops  were  driven,  utterly 
routed,  into  Hungary,  pursued  by  the  Turks,  who  spread 
ruin  and  devastation  widely  around  them.  Disaster  followed 
disaster.  Disease  entered  the  Austrian  ranks,  and  the  proud 
army  melted  away.  The  emperor  himself,  with  about  forty 
thousand  men,  was  nearly  surrounded  by  the  enemy.  He 
attempted  a  retreat  by  night.  A  false  alarm  threw  the  troops 
into  confusion  and  terror.  The  soldiers,  in  their  bewilder 
ment  fired  upon  each  other,  and  an  awful  scene  of  tumult 
ensued.    The  emperor,  on  horseback,  endeavored  to  rally  tha 


JOSEPH    II.  499 

fugitives,  but  he  was  swept  away  by  the  crowd,  and  in  the 
midnight  darkness  was  sejiarated  from  his  suite.  Four  thou- 
sand men  peiished  in  this  defeat,  and  much  of  tne  baggage 
and  several  guns  were  lost.  The  emperor  reproached  his  aides- 
de-camp  with  having  deserted  him.  One  of  them  sarcasti- 
cally replied, 

"We  used  our  utmost  endeavors  to  keep  up  with  your 
imperial  majesty,  but  our  horses  were  not  so  fleet  as  yours." 

Seventy  thousand  Austrians  perished  in  this  one  campaign. 
The  next  year,  1789,  was,  however,  as  prosperous  as  this  had 
been  adverse.  The  Turks  at  Rimnik  were  routed  with  enor- 
mous slaughter,  and  their  whole  camp,  with  all  its  treasures, 
fell  into  the  hands  of  the  victors.  Belgrade  was  fiercely 
assailed  and  was  soon  compelled  to  capitulate.  But  Joseph 
was  now  upon  his  dying  bed.  The  tidings  of  these  successes 
revived  him  for  a  few  hours,  and  leaving  his  sick  chamber  he 
was  conveyed  to  the  church  of  St.  Stephen,  where  thanks- 
givings were  offered  to  God.  A  festival  of  three  days  in 
Vienna  gave  expression  to  the  public  rejoicing. 

England  was  now  alarmed  in  view  of  the  rapid  strides 
of  Austria  and  Russia,  and  the  cabinet  of  St.  James  formed 
a  coalition  with  Holland  and  Prussia  to  assist  the  Turks. 
France,  now  in  the  midst  of  her  revolutionary  struggle,  could 
take  no  part  in  these  foreign  questions.  These  successes 
were,  however,  but  a  momentary  gleam  of  sunshine  which 
penetrated  the  chamber  of  the  dying  monarch.  Griefs  innu- 
merable clustered  around  him.  The  inhabitants  of  the 
Netherlands  rose  in  successful  rebellion  and  threw  off  the 
Austrian  yoke.  Prussia  was  making  immense  preparations 
for  the  invasion  of  Austria.  The  Hungarians  were  rising 
and  demanding  emancipation  from  the  court  of  Vienna. 
These  calamities  crushed  the  emperor.  He  moaned,  and 
wept  and  died.  In  his  last  hours  he  found  much  solace  in 
religious  observances,  devoutly  receiving  the  sacrament  of  the 
Lord's  Sufper,  and  passing  much  of  his  time  in  prayer.     Ha 


600  THE     HOUSE     OF     AUSTRIA. 

died  on  the  20th  of  February,  1790,  in  the  forty-ninth  yew  O* 
his  age,  and  the  tenth  of  his  reign, 

Joseph  had  been  sincerely  desirous  of  promoting  the  best 
interests  of  his  realms  ;  but  had  been  bitterly  disappointed  in 
the  result  of  most  of  his  eflbrts  at  reform.  Just  before  he  died, 
he  said,  *'  I  would  have  engraven  on  my  tomb,  '  Here  Ues  the 
sovereign  who,  with  the  best  intentions,  never  carried  a  single 
project  into  execution.'  "  He  was  married  twice,  but  both  of 
his  wives,  in  the  prime  of  youth,  fell  victims  to  the  small-pox, 
that  awful  disease  which  seems  to  have  been  a  special  scourge 
in  the  Austrian  royal  family.  As  Joseph  II.  died  without 
children,  the  crown  passed  to  his  next  brother,  Leopold,  who 
was  then  Grand  Duke  of  Tuscany. 

Leopold  II.,  at  his  accession  to  the  throne,  was  forty-three 
years  of  age.  He  hastened  to  Vienna,  and  assumed  the  gov- 
ernment. By  prudent  acts  of  conciliation  he  succeeded  in 
appeasing  discontents,  and  soon  accomplished  the  great  object 
of  his  desire  in  securing  the  election  to  the  imperial  throne. 
He  was  crowned  at  Frankfort,  October  9,  1V90.  With  frank- 
ness very  unusual  in  the  diplomacy  of  kings,  he  sought  friendly 
relations  with  all  the  neighboring  powers.  To  Frederic  Wil' 
ham,  who  was  now  King  of  Prussia,  he  wrote : 

"  In  future,  I  solemnly  protest,  no  views  of  aggrandize* 
raent  will  ever  enter  into  my  political  system.  I  shall  doubfr- 
less  employ  all  the  means  in  my  possession  to  defend  my 
country,  should  I  unfortunately  be  driven  to  such  measures; 
but  I  will  endeavor  to  give  no  umbrage.  To  your  majesty  in 
particular,  I  will  act  as  you  act  towards  me,  and  will  spare  no 
efforts  to  preserve  perfect  harmony." 

To  these  friendly  overtures,  Frederic  William  responded 
in  a  similar  spirit ;  but  still  there  were  unsettled  points  of  dis> 
pute  between  the  two  kingdoms  which  threatened  war,  and 
large  armies  were  gathered  on  their  respective  frontiers  in 
preparation  for  the  commencement  of  hostilities.  In  1790, 
after  much  correspondence,  they  came  to  terms,  and  artiolee 


LEOPOLD     II.  601 

of  peace  were  signed.  At  the  same  time  an  armistice  waa 
concluded  with  the  Turks. 

The  spirit  of  liberty  which  had  emancipated  the  colonies 
of  North  America  from  the  aristocratic  sway  of  England, 
shivering  the  scepter  of  feudal  tyranny  in  France,  had  pene- 
trated Hungary.  Leopold  was  endeavoring  to  rivet  anew  the 
shackles  of  despotism,  when  he  received  a  manly  remonstrance 
from  an  assembly  of  Hungarians  which  had  been  convened  as 
Pest.     In  the  following  noble  terms  they  addressed  the  king. 

"  The  fame,  august  sovereign,  which  has  preceded  you, 
has  declared  you  a  just  and  gracious  prince.  It  says  that  you 
forget  not  that  you  are  a  man  ;  that  you  are  sensible  that  the 
king  was  made  for  the  people,  not  the  people  for  the  king. 
From  the  rights  of  nations  and  of  man,  and  from  that  social 
compact  whence  states  arose,  it  is  incontestable  that  the  sov- 
ereignty originates  from  the  people.  This  axiom,  our  parent 
Kature  has  impressed  on  the  hearts  of  all.  It  is  one  of  those 
which  a  just  prince  (and  such  we  trust  your  majesty  ever  will 
be)  can  not  dispute.  It  is  one  of  those  inalienable  imprescrip- 
tible rights  which  the  people  can  not  forfeit  by  neglect  or  dis- 
use. Our  constitution  places  the  sovereignty  jointly  in  the 
king  and  people,  in  such  a  manner  that  the  remedies  ne- 
cessary to  be  applied  according  to  the  ends  of  social  life,  for 
the  security  of  persons  and  property,  are  in  the  power  of  the 
people. 

"  We  are  sure,  therefore,  that  at  the  meeting  of  the  ensu- 
ing diet,  your  majesty  will  not  confine  yourself  to  the  objects 
mentioned  in  your  rescript,  but  will  also  restore  our  freedom 
to  us,  in  like  manner  as  to  the  Belgians,  who  have  conquered 
theirs  with  the  sword.  It  would  be  an  example  big  with  dan- 
ger, to  teach  the  world  that  a  people  can  only  protect  or  re- 
gain their  liberties  by  the  sword  and  not  by  obedience.*' 

But  Leopold,  trembling  at  the  progress  which  freedom  was 
making  in  France,  determined  to  crush  this  spirit  with  an  iron 
heel.     Their  petition   was  rejected  with  scorn  and  menaca 


50S  TB£      HOUSE      OF     A  U  e»  T  K  I  A  . 

With  great  splendor  Leopold  entered  Presburg,  and  wtm 
crowned  King  of  Hungary  on  the  10th  of  November,  1790t 
Having  thus  silenced  the  murmurs  in  Hungary,  and  estab* 
lished  bis  authority  there,  he  next  turned  his  attention  to  the 
recovery  of  the  Netherlands.  The  people  there,  breathing 
the  ^irit  of  French  liberty,  had,  by  a  simultaneous  rising, 
thrown  €&  the  detestable  Austrian  yoke.  Forty-five  thousand 
men  were  sent  to  effect  their  subjugation.  On  the  20th  of 
November,  the  army  appeared  before  Brussels.  In  less  than 
one  year  all  the  provinces  were  again  brought  under  subjection 
to  the  Austrian  power. 

Leopold,  thus  successful,  now  turned  his  attention  to 
France.  Maria  Antoinette  was  his  sister.  He  had  another 
sister  in  the  infamous  Queen  Caroline  of  Naples.  The  com- 
plaints which  came  incessantly  from  Versailles  and  the  Tuil- 
leries  filled  his  ear,  touched  his  affections,  and  roused  his  in- 
dignation. Twenty-five  millions  of  people  had  ventured  to 
assert  their  rights  against  the  intolerable  arrogance  of  the 
French  court.  Leopold  now  gathered  his  armies  to  trample 
those  people  down,  and  to  replace  the  scepter  of  unlimited 
despotism  in  the  hands  of  the  Bourbons.  With  sleepless  zeal 
Leopold  cooperated  with  nearly  all  the  monarchs  in  Europe, 
in  combining  a  resistless  force  to  crush  out  from  the  conti- 
nent of  Europe  the  spirit  of  popular  liberty.  An  army  of 
ninety  thousand  men  was  raised  to  cooperate  with  the  French 
emigrants  and  all  the  royalists  in  France.  The  king  was  to 
escape  from  Paris,  place  himself  at  the  head  of  the  emigrants, 
amounting  to  more  than  twenty  thousand,  rally  around  his 
banners  all  the  advocates  of  the  old  regime,  and  then,  sup- 
ported by  all  the  powers  of  combined  Europe,  was  to  march 
upon  Paris,  and  take  a  bloody  vengeance  upon  a  people  who 
dared  to  wish  to  be  free.  The  arrest  of  Louis  XVI.  at 
Varennes  deranged  this  plan.  Leopold,  alarmed  not  only  by 
the  impending  fate  of  his  sister,  but  lest  the  principles  ol 


LBOPOLD    II.  608 

popular  fiberly,  extending  from  France,  shonld  nndemmie  hif 
own  throne,  wrote  as  follows  to  the  King  of  England : 

**  I  am  persuaded  that  yonr  majesty  is  not  unacqoainted 
with  the  unheard  of  outrage  committed  by  the  arrest  of  the 
King  of  France,  the  queen  my  sister  and  the  royal  family, 
and  that  your  sentiments  accord  with  mine  on  an  event  which, 
threatening  more  atrocious  consequences,  and  fixing  the  seal 
of  illegality  on  the  preceding  excesses,  concerns  the  honor 
and  safety  of  all  governments.  Resolved  to  fulfill  what  I 
owe  to  these  considerations,  and  to  my  duty  as  chief  of  the 
German  empire,  and  sovereign  of  the  Austrian  dominions,  I 
{MX>pose  to  your  majesty,  in  the  same  manner  as  I  have  pro- 
posed to  the  Kings  of  Spain,  Prussia  and  Naples,  as  well  as 
to  the  Empress  of  Russia,  to  unite  with  them,  in  a  concert  of 
measures  for  obtaining  the  liberty  of  the  king  and  his  family, 
and  setting  bounds  to  the  dangerous  excesses  of  the  French 
Revolution." 

The  British  people  nobly  sympathized  with  the  French 
m  their  efibrts  at  emancipation,  and  the  British  government 
dared  not  ihen  shock  the  public  conscience  by  assailing  the 
patriots  in  France.  Leopold  consequently  turned  to  Frederic 
William  of  Prussia,  and  held  a  private  conference  with  him 
at  Pilnitz,  near  Dresden,  in  Saxony,  on  the  2Vth  of  August, 
1791.  The  Count  d'Artois,  brother  of  Louis  XVI.,  and  who 
subsequently  ascended  the  French  throne  as  Charles  X., 
loined  them  in  this  conference.  In  the  midst  of  these  agita- 
tions and  schemes  Leopold  II.  was  seized  with  a  malignant 
dysentery,  which  was  aggravated  by  a  life  of  shameless  de- 
bauchery, and  died  on  the  1st  of  March,  1792,  in  the  forty- 
fifth  year  of  his  age,  and  after  a  reign  of  but  two  years. 

Leopold  has  the  reputation  of  having  been,  on  the  whole, 
a  kind-hearted  man,  but  his  court  was  a  harem  of  unblushing 
profligacy.  His  broken-hearted  wife  was  compelled  to  sub- 
mit to  the  degradation  of  daily  intimacy  with  the  mistress  of 
her  husb^id.      Upon  one  only  of  these  mistresses  the  king 

V 


604  THB    HOUSB    OF    AUSTBIA. 

(avlshed  two  hundred  thousand  dollars  in  drafts  on  the  bank 
of  Vienna.  The  sums  thus  infamously  squandered  were 
wrested  from  the  labormg  poor.  His  son,  Francis  II.,  who 
succeeded  him  upon  the  throne,  was  twenty-two  years  of  age. 
In  most  affecting  terms  the  widowed  queen  entreated  her  son 
to  avoid  those  vices  of  his  father  which  had  disgraced  the 
monarchy  and  embittered  her  whole  life. 


CHAPTER    XXXII. 

AI78TBIA  AND  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTlONHi 

Pbom  1792  TO  1800. 

tgacsatacn  ot  Fkakois  n.— Cjuifaisks  asaimst  Nafoucor.— TokItauab  BEn7BU(A 
--TH3  Kingdom  of  iTALT.—HoeTnjxr  of  Enqland  to  thb  FaENca  EEVOLunoR. 
—The  DowiTFAii,  of  Napoleon,  and  Cohseqtiknt  Downfalj-  op  Fbee  Institu- 

noiIS  THBOCQHODT   EUBOPK.  — THE   CONOBBSS    OF    VtENNA.  —  EXFITLSION    OF    THl 
BOCBBONS  FBOM  FSAKOE.  —  RB8TOBATION  OF  THB  EUPIBB  UKDEB  LOCIS  NaPOLEOH. 

— Betoutronb  thbocohout  edbope.  —  Httnoablam  Bevolction.  —  RnssLAN  Iims- 

VnmON.  — FaU.  op  BUMOABT.  — LIBEBATION  of  ITAI.T.  — PBB8ENT  PBOePSCTB. 

ONE  of  the  first  measures  of  the  young  monarch,  Francis 
II.,  was  to  make  the  insolent  demand  of  regenerated 
France,  that  the  old  Bourbon  monarchy  should  be  restored 
with  all  its  execrable  domination  of  despotism.  This  Insult 
to  thirty  millions  of  freemen,  ordering  them  to  bow  the  neck 
again  to  the  yoke  of  slavery,  and  to  hold  out  their  free  handa 
and  free  feet  that  the  manacles  and  the  gyves  might  again  be 
riveted,  roused  intense  indignation.  France  repelled  the  insc^ 
lence  with  scorn.  To  enforce  this  mandate,  the  Austrian 
monarch  accumulated  vast  armies,  and  entered  into  negotia- 
tions with  Louis  XVI.,  with  the  French  emigrants,  and  with 
the  surrounding  despotisms.  The  spirit  of  the  French  nation 
was  so  roused  by  these  atrocities,  that  Louis  XVI.  himself 
pallid  and  woe-stricken,  was  compelled  to  declare  war  against 
those  his  friends,  with  whom  he  was  secretly  conferring,  that 
he  might  by  their  aid  remcuDt  his  ancient  throne  of  abso- 
lutism. 

An  allied  army  of  Anstriuis,  a  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
•tvoog^  together  with  twenty  thousand  French  emigrants^ 

506 


606  THE    HOUSE    OP    AUSTRIA. 

was  soon  on  the  march  to  overthrow  the  constitutional 
monarchy  of  France,  and  to  restore  again  to  the  king  the 
sceptre  of  despotism.  The  British  Government,  restrained 
by  popular  opinion  in  England,  did  not  venture  openly 
to  join  the  allies,  but  supplied  them  abundantly  with  money. 
The  Duke  of  Brunswick,  who  was  appointed  commander- 
in-chief  of  the  allied  army,  issued  a  manifesto,  dated  Cob- 
lentz,  July  15,  1792,  in  which  the  French  nation  were  com- 
manded to  restore  the  Bourbons  immediately  to  their  former 
absolute  power,  and  to  punish  all  who  had  taken  any  part 
in  the  movement  for  constitutional  liberty.  At  the  same 
time  the  duke  threatened  to  hang  every  Frenchman  who 
should  resist  the  invaders,  and  to  burn  every  city  or  village 
which  should  present  any  opposition  to  his  march. 

Austria,  Russia,  Prussia,  and  England  were  in  heart  united 
to  enforce  this  proclamation.  France,  in  unspeakable  peri!, 
was  stung  to  desperation.  The  king,  who  was  known  to  be 
in  co-operation  with  the  invaders,  was  dethroned  and  impris- 
oned, and  finally  executed.  The  aristocrats,  who  were  waiting 
to  join  the  enemy,  were  massacred.  England  now  openly 
joined  the  allies,  placed  herself  at  their  head,  and  declared 
war  against  France.  The  exultant  battalions  of  the  foe 
crossed  the  French  frontiers,  and,  sweeping  resistlessly  on 
with  sword  and  flame,  arrived  within  a  few  days'  march  oi 
Paris.  The  consternation  in  the  capital  was  terrible.  The 
whole  French  people  rose  en  masse,  and  rushed,  like  wolves  at 
bay,  upon  the  enemy;  and  they  were  driven,  broken,  bleeding, 
and  breathless,  from  the  kingdom. 

At  the  same  time  in  which  these  scenes  were  transpiring, 
Austria,  dominant  in  Italy,  had  gathered  large  armies  in 
Venetia,  Lombardy,  and  Piedmont,  and,  in  alliance  with 
Kaples  and  Switzerland,  was  preparing  to  invade  France  on 
her  Alpine  frontier. 

All  the  States  of  Northern  Italy  were  completely  over- 
awed by  the  imperial  court  at  Vienna,  and  were  compelled 
to  put  their  troops  on  the  march  at  the  summons  of  the 
Austrian  bugles.     All  despotic  Europe  was  now  combined 


AtrttBIA    AND    FRBirCH    K£yOLUT10N8.       507 

against  republican  France.  Month  after  month  the  terrible 
eonflict  raged,  crimsoning  the  waves  of  the  Kbiiie  with  blood, 
and  waking  the  clangor  of  war  amidst  the  solitudes  of  the 
Alps.  The  strife  was  prosecuted  with  unparalleled  ferocity ; 
for  the  most  deadly  passions  of  the  human  heart  were  called 
into  action. 

At  length  the  young  general,  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  was  in- 
trusted with  the  defence  of  Franco  on  the  Alpine  fronti'^r. 
His  movement  was  like  the  sweep  of  the  mountain  whirlwind. 
The  storm  of  war  gathered  blackness  for  a  moment  among 
the  cli£&  of  the  Alps,  and  then  burst  with  flash  and  peal  upon 
the  plains  of  Piedmont.  The  Austrians  were  scattered  like 
autumnal  leaves;  and  the  victor,  master  of  Piedmont,  un- 
furled his  banners  over  the  battlements  of  Turin.  Kot  a 
moment  was  allowed  for  repose.  The  broken  bands  of  the 
Austrians  rallied  with  recruited  strength  on  the  plains  of  Lom- 
bardy.  Terrific  and  awfully  sanguinary  was  the  strife.  But 
again  the  imperial  legions  of  despotism  were  trampled  down  by 
the  heroic  patriots  struggling  for  liberty.  The  Austrians,  in 
dismay,  fled  into  Venetia.  Napoleon  pursued  them.  In  terror 
they  crossed  the  Tagliamento,  and  retreated  from  Italy.  Still 
Napoleon,  with  fearlessness  which  amazed  Europe,  followed 
«n,  chasing  the  multitudinous  foe  through  defiles  and  forests; 
over  rivers  and  plains  and  mountain-ranges,  pelting  them  with 
artillery,  charging  them  with  cavalry,  and  scattering  bullets 
like  hailstones  through  their  panting  ranks.  The  Archduke 
Charles,  brother  of  the  Emperor  of  Austria,  was  in  command 
of  the  retreating  army.  Napoleon,  who  was  fighting  only  for 
peace,  anxiotis  to  arrest  the  flow  of  blood  in  this  hour  of  tri- 
umph, ventured  to  take  the  initiative  in  imploring  a  cessation 
of  hostilities.  He  addressed  the  following  letter  to  the  arch- 
duke :  — 

"  Geneeal-in-Chief,  —  Have  we  not  slain  enough  of  our 
fellow-men?  Have  we  not  inflicted  a  sufiiciency  of  woes 
upon  humanity?  Europe,  which  took  up  arms  against  the 
French  Republic,  has  laid  them  aside.  Your  nation  alone  re- 
mains hostile ;  and  blood  is  about  to  flow  more  oopiously  than 


603  THE    HOUSE    OP    AUSTRIA. 

ever.  Whatever  may  be  the  result  of  this  campaign,  many 
thousand  men  must  perish ;  and,  after  all,  we  must  come  to 
an  accommodation.  If  the  overture  which  I  have  the  honor 
to  make  shall  be  the  means  of  saving  a  single  life,  I  shall  be 
more  proud  of  the  civic  crown,  which  I  shall  be  conscious  of 
having  deserved,  than  of  all  the  melancholy  glory  which  mili- 
tary success  can  confer." 

The  Austrian  archduke  replied,  "  In  the  duty  assigned  to 
me,  there  is  no  power  either  to  scrutinize  the  causes,  or  to  ter- 
minate the  duration,  of  the  war.  I  am  not  invested  with 
any  authority  in  that  respect,  and  therefore  cannot  enter  into 
a&y  negotiation  for  peace." 

"  The  war,  that  for  a  space  did  fail, 
Now  trebly  thundering  swelled  the  gale." 

The  pursuers  and  the  pursued  rushed  on  witk  hot  haste 
amidst  all  the  uproar,  confusion,  and  carnage  of  war,  until 
Napoleon,  from  the  heights  around  Leoben^  with  his  glass, 
could  discern  the  towers  of  Vienna.  All  was  consternation 
in  the  Austrian  capital.  The  emperor  and  his  court  fled,  like 
deer,  to  the  wilds  of  Hungary,  at  tbe  same  time  despatching 
ambassadors  to  Napoleon  imploring  peace.  It  was  all  France 
wanted.  The  preliminaries  were  soon  settled.  By  the  treaty 
of  Campo  Formio,  which  ensued,  France  extended  her  frontier 
to  the  Rhine  as  a  safeguard  against  future  attacks ;  and  Austria 
recognized  the  Cisalpine  republic  which  Napoleon  had  estab- 
lished in  Italy,  consisting  of  Lombardy,  Modena,  and  several 
emaller  States.  Napoleon  was  anxious  to  liberate  Venice  from 
Austria;  but  he  could  not  accomplish  this  without  perpetuat- 
ing a  cruel  war  for  an  object  in  which  France  had  no  especial 
interest,  and  during  which  he  might  lose  all  that  he  had  thus 
far  gained. 

England,  the  undisputed  mistress  of  the  sea,  still  continued 
the  conflict  against  republican  France.  The  expedition  to 
Egypt  was  organized ;  and  Napoleon  was  placed  at  the  head 
of  it  to  attack  England  in  India,  the  only  vulnerable  point 
then  presented.     Napoleon  had  hardly  left  France  ere  England 


AUSTRIA     AND     FUENCH     REVOLUTIONS.        509 

sncceeded  iu  forming  a  new  coalition  against  the  infant  repub- 
lic. Austria  joined  it  eagerly,  sent  vast  armies  into  Italy, 
and  soon  recovered  the  provinces  which  Napoleon  had  liber- 
ated. Again  the  combined  armies  of  Austria  and  of  the  re- 
enslaved  States  of  Italy  were  climbing  the  Alps  to  pour  down 
upon  the  plains  of  France,  while  the  veteran  battalions  '>f  all 
Northern  Europe  were  crowding  to  the  Rhine.  England  was 
energetic  with  both  fleet  and  army  iu  co-operating  in  this 
most  iniquitous  crusade  which  was  ever  waged. 

*'  The  English  fleet,"  gays  the  British  "  Westminster  Re- 
view," "was  ordered  to  Genoa  to  support  the  enemies  of 
France ;  but  it  was  in  defiance  of  English  public  opiuion. 
There  is  no  fact  in  our  history  more  easy  of  proof  than  that 
the  voice  of  universal  England  was  raised  in  protest  against 
being  dragged  into  war  with  France.  The  lord  mayor  and 
corporation  of  London  petitioned  against  the  war.  At  Isling- 
ton fifty  thousand  persons  met  to  demand  neutrality.  Thus, 
while  the  British  fleet  was  covering  Austrian  movements 
against  Bonaparte  on  the  shores  of  Genoa,  the  English  people 
at  home  were  praying  and  petitioning  in  vain  against  the  war 
with  the  French  Republic." 

Napoleon,  having  suddenly  returned  from  Egypt  and  as- 
enmed  the  consular  command,  sent  the  flower  of  the  French 
army,  under  General  Moreau,  to  beat  off  the  foes  of  France 
upon  the  Rhine.  With  amazing  celerity  and  secrecy  he  as- 
sembled another  army  of  sixty  thousand  raw  recruits  at  Dijon, 
near  the  foot  of  the  Alps.  Before  putting  his  armies  in  motion 
he  wrote  to  both  the  King  of  England  and  the  Emperor  of  Aus- 
tria, imploring  peace.  A  contemptuous  and  insulting  refusal 
was  the  only  reply. 

Napoleon  crossed  the  Alps,  fell  upon  the  Austrians  at  Ma- 
rengo ;  and  they  bit  the  dust.  On  the  gory  field,  surrounded 
by  the  dead  and  the  dying  and  all  the  melancholy  wrecks  of 
war,  the  victor  thus  again  addressed  the  Emperor  of  Austria,  • — 

"  Sire,  —  It  is  on  the  field  of  battle,  amid  the  sufienngs  of 
a  multitude  of  wounded,  and  surrounded  by  fifteen  thousand 
oorpses,  that  I  beseech  your  Majesty  to  listen  to  the  voice  of 


610  THB    HOUSB    OF    AUSTBIA. 

humanity,  and  not  to  suffer  two  Iwave  naticms  to  out  eadb 
o&ers  throats  for  interests  not  their  own.  It  is  my  part  to 
press  this  upon  your  Majesty,  being  upon  the  very  tbeatm 
of  war.  Your  Majesty's  heart  cannot  feel  it  so  keenly  as  does 
mine."  • 

The  Austrian  army,  utterly  routed,  was  at  the  mercy  of  the 
conqueror.  Generously  Napoleon  permitted  them  to  return 
unmolested  to  their  homes,  upon  the  sole  condition  that  they 
would  quietly  withdraw  from  Italy.  Austria  now  desired 
peace ;  but  she  was  so  entangled  with  her  alliance  with  Eng- 
land, that  she  could  not  enter  into  a  treaty  with  France  with- 
out the  consent  of  the  court  of  St.  James.  That  consent 
could  not  be  obtained ;  and  the  Austrian  troops,  in  obedience 
to  the  coalition  which  England  had  organized,  accumulated 
her  troops  in  powerful  array  upon  the  Khine.  On  the  3d  of 
December,  1800,  in  a  dark  and  stormy  night,  General  MoreaXE, 
with  sixty  thousand  Frenchmen,  encountered  the  Axchduk« 
John,  at  the  head  of  seventy  thousand  Austrians,  in  th« 
forest  of  Hohenlinden.     A  terrible  battle  ensued. 

When  the  morning  dawned,  twenty  thousand  mutilated 
bodies  were  left  upon  the  field,  with  gory  locks  frozen  to  the 
snow.  The  Austrians,  utterly  routed,  fled  down  the  valley  of 
the  Danube  towards  Vienna.  Moreau  followed  them  like  an 
avenging  spirit,  sweeping  them  down  with  war's  fierce  blasts. 
He  had  arrived  within  thirty  miles  of  the  panic-stricken  capi- 
tal, when  the  emperor,  trembling  for  his  crown,  sent  commie* 
sioners  imploring  peace,  "  It  is  for  that  alone,"  Morean 
replied,  "  that  we  are  fighting." 

Austria  was  thus  compelled  to  sheathe  the  sword  without 
consulting  England.  Joseph  Bonaparte  as  the  ambassador  <^ 
Napoleon,  and  Count  Cobentzel  as  the  plenipotentiaiy  oC 
Austria,  met  at  Lun^ville.  It  was  in  February,  1801.  Again 
Austria  acknowledged  the  Rhine  as  the  boundary  of  Fraiuje^ 
and  recognized  the  independence  of  the  Batavian,  Helvetic^ 
Cisalpine,  and  Ligurian  Republics,  consenting  that  they  shoald 
be  permitted  to  choose  whatever  form  of  government  they 
might  prefer,  These  free  governments  had  been  gradually 
established  during  the  progress  of  the  war. 


AUSTBIA    AND    FB£NOH    REVOLUTIONS.        511 

But  Eu^,Iand,  sweeping  all  seas  with  her  inviucible  fleet, 
ttHl  continued  the  strife.  Not  a  fishing-boat  could  in  safety 
leave  a  French  cove.  Every  port  in  France  was  liable  to 
bombardment.  At  length  the  clamor  of  the  English  peopU 
compelled  the  government  to  the  peace  of  Amiens.  But  the 
ministry  were  eager  to  renew  the  war,  and  in  eighteen  months 
did  so  without  any  proclamation  of  hostilities,  seizing  two 
hundred  French  ships,  containing  fifteen  millions  of  dollars, 
which  were  floating,  unsuspicious  of  danger,  in  English  ports. 
War  was  resumed  with  redoubled  ferocity.  Napoleon  now 
resolved  to  transport  his  army  to  London,  that  in  the  British 
capital  be  might  compel  his  inflexible  foes  to  grant  peace  to 
Europe. 

The  British  Government,  alarmed  in  view  of  the  prepara- 
tions Napoleon  was  making  at  Boulogne,  through  the  influence 
of  enormous  bribes  organized  a  new  coalition.  Austria,  E-ussia, 
and  Sweden  were  thus  induced  to  raise  an  army  of  five  hun- 
dred thousand  men  to  embarrass  Napoleon  by  suddenly  attack- 
ing him  in  the  rear.  England  agreed  to  pay  annually  six  million 
of  dollars  foi  every  hundred  thousand  men  the  allies  raised. 
Austria,  without  any  declaration  of  war,  leading  an  immense 
army,  followed  by  the  solid  battalions  of  Russia  and  Sweden, 
for  the  third  time  commenced  her  march  upon  Paris,  hoping 
stealthily  to  plunge  the  dagger  into  Napoleon's  back.  But  Napo- 
leon was  not  caught  sleeping.  Twenty  thousand  carriages  were 
instantly  in  motion,  transporting  his  army  from  the  shores  of 
the  channel  to  the  banks  of  the  Rhine.  In  a  brief  address  to 
the  senate,  as  Napoleon  left  Paris,  he  said,  — 

"  Senators,  I  am  about  to  leave  Paris  to  place  myself  at  the 
head  of  the  army.  The  wishes  of  the  eternal  enemies  of  the 
continent  are  accomplished.  Hostilities  have  commenced  in 
the  midst  of  Germany.  Austria  and  Russia  have  united  with 
England,  and  our  generation  is  involved  anew  in  the  calami- 
ties of  war.  A  few  days  ago  I  cherished  the  hope  that  peace 
Would  not  be  disturbed.  But  the  Austrian  army  has  passed 
the  Inn.     All  my  hopes  of  peace  are  vanished." 

The  world-renowned    campaign   of    Ulm   and    Aueterlita 


ffl2  THB    HOUSE    OP    AU8TBIA. 

ensued.  In  twenty  days  the  Austrian  army  was  annihUated. 
As  tbiity-six  thousand  Austrian  troops  at  Ulm  laid  down 
their  arms  before  the  conqueror,  Napoleon  said  to  the  'dejected 
officers,  — 

"  Gentlemen,  your  master  wages  against  me  an  unjust  war. 
I  say  it  candidly,  I  know  not  for  what  I  am  fighting :  I  know 
not  what  he  requires  of  me." 

Without  allowing  his  foes  one  hour  to  recover  from  their 
panic,  Napoleon  pressed  on  to  Vienna.  Like  a  torrent  he 
swept  the  valley  of  the  Danube ;  and  in  forty  days  from  the 
time  he  left  Boulogne,  his  army  was  encamped  in  the  squares 
of  the  Austrian  capital,  and  Napoleon  was  occupying  the 
palaces  of  the  emperor.  Francis,  with  the  fragments  of  his 
army,  had  fled  to  join  the  Russians,  who  were  hurrying  to  his 
relief.  The  situation  of  Napoleon  was  now  perilous  in  the 
extreme.  He  was  nearly  a  thousand  miles  from  Paris.  Four 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  men,  from  the  various  points  of 
the  compass,  were  on  the  march  to  crush  him.  The  Emperor 
of  Russia  was  at  the  distance  of  but  a  few  days'  march  in  the 
north,  at  the  head  of  one  hundred  thousand  men,  hurrying  to 
join  other  vast  bodies  of  men  in  their  advance  upon  Vienna. 
The  blasts  of  winter  were  already  sweeping  the  whitened  hills. 

Napoleon,  urging  his  troops  to  forced  marches,  to  prevent 
the  junction  of  the  foe,  met  the  Russians  and  the  broken 
bands  of  the  Austrians,  with  the  two  emperors,  Alexander  and 
Francis,  at  their  head,  upon  the  field  of  Austerlitz.  It  was 
the  Ist  of  December,  1805.  In  one  short  terrific  tempest  of 
war,  the  allied  army  was  destroyed.  Alexander,  with  the 
bleeding,  shattered  remnants  of  his  bands,  commenced  a  pre» 
cipitate  retreat  toward  Russia.  The  Emperor  Francis  was 
hopelessly  ruined,  and  had  nowhere  to  retreat  to^  unless  he 
abandoned  his  realms.  Thus  humiliated,  he  sought  an  inter- 
view with  Napoleon,  and  met  him,  at  the  fire  of  his  bivouac, 
on  the  side  of  a  bleak  hill.  Conscious  of  guilt,  and  deeply 
dejected,  he  attempted  an  ignoble  apology  for  bis  crime  by 

saying?  — 

**  The  Engiidi  are  a  nation  of  merchants.     In  oeder  te 


AU8TSIA    AND    FKBNCIl    REVOLUTIONS.        513 

secure  for  themselves  the   commerce  of  the  world,  they  are 

willing  to  set  the  continent  in  flames." 

Napoleon,  anxious  for  peace,  was  exceedingly  moderate  in 
Lis  terms.  He  allowed  the  Emperor  of  Russia  to  retire  un- 
molested, simply  exacting  from  him  the  promise  no  longer  to 
prosecute  hostile  movements  against  France.  From  Austria, 
also,  he  took  for  himself  not  one  foot  of  territory.  Francis 
paid  the  expenses  of  the  war,  and  consented  that  the  electors 
of  Bavaria  and  Wurtemberg,  who  were  friends  and  allies  of 
Napoleon,  should  be  elevated  to  the  rank  of  kings.  The  re- 
publican kingdom  of  Italy  was  also  enlarged,  and  rendered 
more  powerful  by  the  annexation  of  Venice,  Austria  receiving 
in  exchange  the  electorate  of  Salzburg. 

Napoleon  thus  rewarded  his  friends,  and  strengthened  the 
barriers  which  were  to  protect  France  from  those  great  northern 
despotisms,  Russia,  Prussia,  and  Austria,  which  were  instinc- 
tively hostile  to  the  establishment  of  any  free  institutions  on 
the  soil  of  Europe. 

The  Emperor  of  France  had  hardly  returned  to  Paris  from 
this  campaign,  when  England  formed  another  coalition  against 
him,  uniting  Russia  and  Prussia  in  the  alliance.  This  coali- 
tion led  to  the  campaigns  of  Jena  and  Eylau.  Notwithstand- 
ing the  solemn  treaties  into  which  Austria  had  entered,  Fran- 
cis was  eager  to  join  the  foes  of  France,  when  he  thought 
Napoleon  was  crippled  beyond  redemption  on  the  distant  banks 
of  the  Vistula.  Elated  with  the  hope  that  Napoleon  was  so 
crowded  by  his  foes,  that  he  could  not  resent  the  outrage, 
Austria  began  to  arm,  preparing  to  cut  off  the  retreat  of  the 
French.  To  meet  this  peril.  Napoleon  immediately  ordered 
another  army  of  a  hundred  thousand  men  to  be  raised  in 
France,  and  thoroughly  equipped  for  war.  He  then  sent, 
through  his  minister,  the  following  wonderfully  frank  com- 
munication to  the  Emperor  Francis,  — 

"France  understands  perfectly  the  intentions  of  Austria. 
To  save  Austria  from  calamity,  I  explain  myself  with  frank- 
ness. France  is  abundantly  prepared  to  meet  any  force 
Austria  can  raise  against  her.     If  the  emperor  wishes  to  send 


^14  VHE    HOUSE    OF    AUSTRIA. 

officers  to  ascertain  our  strength,  we  engage  to  ^how  them  thft 
depots,  the  camps  of  reserve,  and  the  divisions  on  the  march. 
They  shall  see,  that,  independently  of  the  hundred  thousand 
French  already  in  Germany,  a  second  army  of  one  hundred 
thousand  is  preparing  to  cross  the  Rhine  to  check  any  hostile 
movement  on  the  part  of  Vienna." 

This  unexpected  revelation  of  the  ability  of  France  to  pun- 
ish the  contemplated  perfidy  caused  Austria  to  drop  her  arms. 
The  peace  of  Tilsit  detached  Russia  and  Prussia  from  the 
coalition  with  England,  and  the  British  cabinet  was  again  left 
to  struggle  alone  in  the  attempt  to  restore  the  Bourbons  to 
their  despotic  throne.  Still  Austria,  chagrined  by  reiterated 
defeats,  and  humiliated  by  the  loss  of  Italy,  was  eager  for  some 
favorable  opportunity  to  renew  the  strife  with  France,  hoping 
to  regain  lost  honor  and  lost  territory.  The  wisbed-for  oppor- 
tunity soon  occurred.  Napoleon  was  embroiled  in  the  Spanish 
war,  when  Austria  again  listened  to  England,  and  again 
entered  into  a  coalition  against  France.  Napoleon  was  driv- 
ing the  army  of  Sir  John  Moore  out  of  the  Spanish  peninsula, 
when  he  received  the  tidings  that  Austria  was  preparing  fof 
another  assault. 

"  It  seems,"  said  he,  "  that  the  waters  of  oblivion  flow  past 
Vienna.  They  have  forgotten  the  lessons  of  experience. 
They  want  new  ones :  they  shall  have  them ;  and  this  time 
tbey  shall  be  terrible.  I  do  not  desire  war.  I  have  no  intep> 
est  in  it." 

*'  Napoleon,"  says  Thiers,  "  was  sincere,  and  spoke  the  truth* 
in  asserting  that  he  did  not  desire  war,  but  that  he  would 
wage  it  tremendously  if  forced  into  it." 

With  an  army  of  two  hundred  thousand  men,  Austria  com- 
menced the  conflict  by  crossing  the  Inn,  and  invading  the  tei»» 
ritory  of  Napoleon's  ally,  the  King  of  Bavaria.  As  usual,  the 
Austrian  emperor  conducted  with  the  utmost  perfidy,  commen- 
cing hostilities  without  any  declaration  of  war.  Napoleon  waa 
not  taken  by  surprise.  At  midnight,  in  Paris,  he  received  in- 
telligence of  the  movements  of  the  foe.  He  immediately  took 
carriage  to  place  himself  at  the  head  of  bis  army,  saying  to 
his  friends  as  he  bade  them  adieu,  — 


AUSTRIA     AND     FRENCH     REVOLUTIONS.      516 

"  Very  well.  Behold  us  once  more  at  Vienna.  Since  they 
force  me  to  it,  they  shall  have  war  to  their  hearts'  content." 

The  Austrians  had  five  hundred  thousand  troops  in  the  field, 
two  hundred  thousand  of  whom  had  crossed  the  Inn.  Napo- 
leon met  the  foe  at  Echmul,  and  scattered  them  in  dismay  be- 
fore his  impetuous  charges.  As  they  fled,  Napoleon  pursued 
them,  and,  overtaking  them  at  Ratisbon,  chastised  them  again 
with  a  dripping  sword.  He  then  chased  them  down  the 
Danube  to  Vienna.  For  ten  hours  he  bombarded  the  doomed 
city,  throwing  into  it  three  thousand  shells,  until  it  capitu- 
lated. The  Austrian  emperor  and  his  army  fled  across  the 
Danube.  Napoleon  pursued  them  closely,  and,  after  the  san- 
guinary conflicts  of  Essling  and  Aspern,  again  brought  Aus- 
tria upon  her  knees  on  the  field  of  Wagram.  At  the  close  of 
this  decisive  battle,  when  the  Austrian  empire  was  again  at 
the  mercy  of  Napoleon,  all  the  French  marshals  were  assem- 
bled in  his  tent  to  consider  the  proposal  Austria  had  presented 
for  an  armistice.     The  question  was  earnestly  discussed. 

"Austria,"  said  one  party,  "is  the  irreconcilable  enemy  of 
the  popular  government  in  France.  Unless  deprived  of  the 
power  of  again  injuring  us,  she  will  never  cease  to  violate 
the  most  solemn  treaties,  whenever  there  is  a  prospect  of  ad- 
vantage. It  is  indispensable  to  put  an  end  to  these  coalitions 
perpetually  springing  up  against  us,  by  dividing  Austria* 
which  is  the  centre  of  them  all." 

"Should  the  Austrian  emperor,"  replied  the  other  party, 
**  retreat  to  the  Bohemian  mountains,  Russia  and  Prussia  will 
probably  join  the  coalition.  A  great  and  final  conflict  is 
evidently  approaching  between  the  North  and  the  South.  It 
IS  of  the  utmost  importance  to  conciliate  Austria,  that  she 
may  be  detached  from  the  coalition." 

Napoleon  listened  thoughtfully,  and  then  said,  "Gentlemen, 
enough  blood  has  been  shed.     I  accept  the  armistice." 

Francis  resorted  to  every  species  of  trickery  to  prolong  the 
Degoticitions,  hoping  for  aid  from  the  English,  who  had  landed 
in  great  strength  at  the  mouth  of  the  Scheldt ;  but  at  length 
the  treaty  was  signed  on  the  14th  of  October,  1809.     It  wa» 


516  THE    H0D8B    OF    AUSTRIA. 

the  fourth  treaty  Austria  had  made  with  France  within  sixteen 
years.  In  this  treaty  of  Vienna,  which  Napoleon  negotiated 
while  occupying  the  palaces  of  the  Austrian  emperor,  the 
frontiers  of  Bavaria  were  strengthened  and  extended,  so  that 
this  ally  of  France  might  not  be  again  so  defencelessly  exposed 
to  Austrian  invasion.  Saxony  received  an  additional  popula- 
tion, amounting  to  a  million  five  hundred  thousand.  The 
kingdom  of  Italy  also  received  important  accessions  of  terri- 
tory, that  it  might  present  a  more  impregnable  front  to  its 
despotic  and  gigantic  neighbor.  France  strengthened  her 
allies,  but  added  not  a  rood  of  ground  to  her  own  domain. 

''  When  compared,"  says  Lockhart,  "  with  the  signal  tri- 
umphs of  the  campaign  of  Wagram,  the  terms  on  which 
Napoleon  signed  the  peace  were  universally  looked  upon  as 
remarkable  for  moderation." 

Soon  after  this,  Austria  became  intimately  allied  with  France 
by  the  marriage  of  Maria  Louisa,  the  daughter  of  the  em- 
peror, with  Napoleon.  It  was  supposed  that  this  measure  of 
State  policy  would  secure  the  peace  of  Europe  by  preventing 
any  further  acts  of  hostility  on  the  part  of  Austria.  The 
divorce  of  Josephine  was  the  great  mistake,  and,  in  the  sight 
of  God,  the  great  sin,  of  Napoleon's  life.  Savary,  the  Duke 
of  Rovego,  who  was  familiar  w-ith  all  the  details,  thus  describes 
the  motives  which  led  to  this  sublime  tragedy :  — 

"Nothing  can  be  more  true,"  says  he,  "than  that  the  sacri- 
fice of  the  object  of  his  affections  was  the  most  painful  that 
Napoleon  experienced  throughout  his  life.  A  feeling  of  per- 
sonal ambition  was  supposed  to  be  the  mainspring  of  all  his 
actions.  This  was  a  very  mistaken  impression.  With  great 
reluctance  he  had  altered  the  form  of  government ;  and,  if  he 
had  not  been  apprehensive  that  the  State  would  again  fall  a 
prey  to  those  dissensions  which  are  inseparable  from  an  elec- 
tive form  of  government,  he  would  not  have  changed  an  order 
of  things  which  permanently  secured  those  principles.  He 
desired  to  hand  his  work  down  to  posterity.  He  could  not  be 
blind  to  the  fact  that  the  perpetual  warfare  into  which  a  jeal- 
ousy of  his  otrength  had  plunged  him  had  in  reality  no  other 


AUSTRIA    AND    FRENCH    RBVOLUTIONS.     617 

object  than  his  own  downfall,  because  with  him  must  neces- 
sarily crumble  that  gigantic  power  which  was  no  longer  up- 
held by  the  revolutionary  energy  he  had  himself  repressed. 

*'  The  emperor  had  no  children.  He  dismissed  the  idea  of 
appointing  Eugene  his  heir,  because  he  had  nearer  relations; 
and  it  would  have  given  rise  to  dissensions  which  it  was  his 
principal  object  to  avoid.  He  also  considered  the  necessity  in 
which  he  was  placed  of  forming  an  alliance  sufficiently  power- 
ful, in  order  that,  in  the  event  of  his  system  being  at  any 
time  threatened,  that  alliance  might  be  a  resting-point,  and 
save  it  from  total  ruin.  He  likewise  hoped  that  it  would  be 
the  means  of  putting  an  end  to  that  series  of  wars,  of  which 
he  was  desirous,  above  all  things,  of  avoiding  a  recurrence. 
These  were  the  motives  which  determined  him  to  break  a 
union  so  long  contracted.  He  wished  it  less  for  himself  than 
for  the  purpose  of  interesting  a  powerful  State  in  the  mainte- 
nance of  an  order  of  things  established  in  France." 

The  marriage-ceremony  of  Napoleon  and  Maria  Louisa  was 
celebrated  in  Vienna  on  the  11th  of  May,  1810.  The  Arch- 
duke Charles,  brother  of  the  Emperor  Francis,  stood  as  proxy 
for  Napoleon,  A  little  more  than  two  years  from  this  time 
occurred  the  dreadful  disaster  of  the  campaign  of  Russia.  A 
French  army  of  nearly  half  a  million  was  buried  beneath  the 
snows  of  the  North.  Europe  again  sprang  to  arms  to  crush, 
in  the  person  of  Napoleon,  free  institutions.  With  almosfr 
supernatural  energy  the  French  emperor  raised  another  armj; 
and,  with  fearful  odds  against  him,  was  holding  at  bay  the 
armies  of  England,  Russia,  and  Prussia  upon  the  plains  of 
Dresden.  Austria  seized  upon  this  occasion  again  to  join  the 
allies,  that  she  might  recover  what  she  had  lost.  Francis 
raised  an  army  of  two  hundred  thousand  men ;  and  with  the 
ringing  of  bells,  the  explosion  of  artillery,  and  the  flight  of 
rockets,  on  the  12th  of  August,  1813,  this  proud  army  joined 
the  ranks  of  Napoleon's  already  outnumbering  foes.  Napoleon 
was  on  the  banks  of  the  Elbe  with  but  two  hundred  and  sixty 
thousand  troops.  The  allies  surrounded  him  five  hundred 
thousand  strong.     The  battles  of  Dresden  and  Leipsic  ea- 


618 


THE    HOUSE    OF    AUSTRIA. 


Bued.  Napoleon  fought  with  heroism  which  amazed  the  world 
but  fiually,  overwhelmed  with  numbers,  fell. 

The  allies  marched  to  Paris,  leading  the  Bourbons  behind 
their  guns,  and  replaced  them  upon  tlie  throne  of  France. 
Napoleon  was  sent  to  Elba ;  and  Maria  Louisa,  with  her  son, 
taken  captive  by  her  own  father,  was  conveyed  by  a  guard  of 
soldiers  to  Vienna.  The  sublime  drama  of  "  The  Hundred 
Days "  soon  ensued,  followed  by  the  disaster  of  Waterloo. 
Napoleon  was  entombed  in  the  glooms  of  St.  Helena ;  and 
despotism  was  re-established  all  over  Europe. 

The  victorious  despots  met  in  congress  at  Vienna  in  Sep- 
tember, 1814,  to  divide  the  spoil.  There  were  present  at  this 
congress  the  Emperors  of  Austria  and  Russia,  the  Kings  of 
Prussia,  Denmark,  Bavaria,  and  Wurtemberg,  and  also  a  large 
number  of  princes  and  dukes.  The  Pope  was  represented  by 
Cardinal  Consalvi.  England  sent  as  her  representatives  Lord 
Castlereagh,  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  Lords  Cathcart,  Clan- 
carty,  and  Stuart.  The  Bourbons  of  France  were  represented 
by  Prince  Talleyrand,  and  several  others  of  the  most  illustri- 
ous of  the  ancienne  noblesse.  Ambassadors  from  Spain,  Por- 
tugal, and  Sweden,  were  also  admitted  to  the  deliberations. 
Prince  Metternich,  who  has  been  justly  styled,  "  The  incarna- 
tion of  Austrian  despotism,"  presided.  The  result  of  the  long 
deliberations  was  summed  up  in  one  hundred  and  twenty-one 
articles,  which  were  signed  on  the  9th  of  June,  1815.  By 
these  treaties  the  Austrian  despotism  received  vast  accessions 
of  strength.  The  constitutional  kingdoms  of  Italy  were  an- 
nihilated ;  and  the  woe-stricken  Italians,  bound  hand  and  foot, 
were  surrendered  again  to  their  former  masters.  Austria  re- 
ceived Venetia,  Lombardy,  Tuscany,  Modena,  Parma,  and 
various  other  minor  States.  Naples  was  restored,  re-enslaved, 
to  the  infamous  Ferdinand.  Austria  constructed  Venetia  and 
Lombardy  into  a  kingdom,  over  which  she  placed  one  of  her 
archdukes  as  viceroy.  The  remaining  States  she  parcelled  out 
among  her  dukes  aTid  princes.  Again  the  repose  of  the  slave- 
plantation  was  spread  over  Europe.  In  reference  to  the  acta 
of  this  congress  of  the  allies,  "  The  British  Quarterly  "  says,  — 


AUSTRIA    AND    FRENCH    REVOLUTIONS.      619 

"  The  treaties  of  Vienna,  though  the  most  desperate  eflPbrta 
have  been  made  by  the  English  diplomatists  to  embalm  them 
as  monuments  of  political  wisdom,  are  fast  becoming  as  dead 
as  those  of  Westphalia.  In  fact,  they  should  be  got  under 
ground  with  all  possible  despatch  ;  for  no  compacts,  so  worth- 
less, so  wicked,  so  utterly  subversive  of  the  rights  of  humanity, 
are  to  be  found  in  the  annals  of  nations." 

After  the  perpetration  of  this  great  crime,  Austria  remained 
comparatively  quiet,  with  occasional  outbreaks  but  no  great 
change,  until  the  year  1836.  On  the  8th  of  March  of  this 
year,  the  Emperor  Francis  died.  Regarding  his  throne  as  the 
great  bulwark  of  absolutism,  he  ever  manifested  the  most  re- 
lentless hostility  to  constitutional  freedom.  It  is  reported, 
that  when  his  physician,  Baron  Stifft,  in  a  congratulatory  ad- 
dress upon  his  health,  remarked,  — 

"There  is  nothing,  sire,  like  a  good  physical  constitution," 
the  emperor  nervously  interrupted  him,  exclaiming,  — 

"What  do  you  say?  Let  me  never  hear  that  word  again! 
Say  my  robust  health,  strong  bodily  system,  but  never  say  my 
constitution.  I  have  no  constitution ;  and  I  never  will  have 
one." 

The  death  of  Francis  produced  no  change  in  the  national 
policy.  He  died  at  the  age  of  sixty-seven,  having  outlived 
three  of  his  four  wives,  and  having  manifested,  it  is  said,  at 
the  death  of  each,  about  as  much  concern  as  "  old  Bluebeard 
himself."  Ferdinand  I.  succeeded  Francis,  and  governed  his 
vast  and  discordant  estates  with  ordinary  ability  until  the 
revolution  in  Paris  of  1848,  which  overthrew  Louis  Philippe, 
and  introduced  to  France  first  the  republic,  and  then  the  em" 
pire  under  Louis  Napoleon. 

This  immense  revolution,  overthrowing  a  despotism  wielded 
for  the  benefit  of  the  aristocracy,  and  introducing  in  its  stead 
a  despotism  which  maintained  the  cause  of  the  people,  shook 
all  the  realms  of  Austria  like  an  earthquake.  The  significarce 
of  this  revolution  in  France  has  not  generally  been  understood 
in  the  United  States.  It  has  been  generally  regarded  merely 
as   a  change  of  masters,    France  exchanging   the    despotic 


620  THE    HOUSE    OF    AUSTKIA. 

Bourbons  for  the  equal  despotism  of  Louis  Napoleon.  Instead 
of  this,  it  was  a  radical  change  of  administration,  overthrowing 
the  reign  of  aristocratic  privilege,  and  introducing  the  reign 
of  republican  equality.  In  the  present  state  of  France,  it  is 
said  that  no  government  can  stand  which  is  not  upheld  by  the 
energies  of  despotism.  The  people  have,  then,  only  to  choose 
between  a  despotism  upholding  the  assumptions  of  the  aristoc- 
racy, and  a  despotism  maintaining  popular  rights.  Of  course, 
they  choose  the  latter. 

Thus  the  empire  in  France  was  re-established  by  the  masses 
of  the  people.  They  drove  aristocratic  absolutism  from  the 
throne,  and  placed  Louis  Napoleon,  the  representative  of  de- 
mocracy, upon  it;  and  they  cheerfully  gave  into  his  hands 
enough  of  despotic  power  to  enable  him  to  maintain  their 
rights  against  the  immense  pressure  of  all  the  nobles  of  France, 
combined  with  the  sympathies  of  all  the  monarchies  of  Europe, 
With  skill  and  fidelity  never  surpassed,  Louis  Napoleon  has 
proved  himself  equal  to  the  trust.  Had  his  government  been 
less  decisive  and  energetic,  long  ago  popular  rights  would  have 
been  trampled  in  the  mire.  Under  his  sway,  France  has  risen 
to  be  at  the  head  of  all  the  European  monarchies. 

A  few  years  ago  Louis  Napoleon  needed  money.  He  ap- 
pealed to  the  people  for  a  loan  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  mil- 
lions of  dollars.  In  crowds  they  rushed  to  his  treasury,  bring- 
ing with  them  the  almost  incredible  sum  of  nearly  eight  hun- 
dred millions  of  dollars,  —  five  times  as  much  as  he  asked  for, 
or  could  consent  to  receive.  This  one  fact  sufficiently  illus- 
trates how  differently  the  people  regard  the  dictatorial  power 
they  have  placed,  for  their  own  defence,  in  the  hands  of  Na- 
poleon, from  the  despotic  power  swayed  by  the  Bourbons. 

A  revolution  of  so  marked  a  character  taking  place  in 
France,  of  course,  agitated  Europe  to  its  centre.  The  Aus- 
trian provinces  in  Italy  immediately  arose  to  strike  for  freedom. 
By  the  treaty  of  Vienna,  Sardinia  had  been  constituted  nomi- 
nally an  independent  kingdom,  embracing  the  Island  of  Sar- 
dinia, and  the  continental  provinces  of  Piedmont,  Savoy,  and 
Nice.     This  feeble  kingdom  was  not  allowed  to  retain  the  free 


AUSTRIA    AND     FKENCH    REVOLUTIONS.      521 

institutions  which  it  had  enjoyed  as  a  part  of  the  kingdom  of 
Italy  under  the  protection  of  Napoleon;  but  it  was  watched 
with  an  eagle  eye,  and  was  overawed  by  Austrian  despotism 
on  the  one  side,  and  by  the  re-established  Bourbon  despotism 
oi:  the  other.  As  the  Italian  provinces  of  Lombardy  and 
Venetia  rose  to  break  from  their  Austrian  masters,  the  Pied- 
UQontese,  sympathizing  with  them,  and  also  wishing  to  escape 
from  the  despotism  ever  brooding  over  their  realm,  marched  to 
the  aid  of  their  brethren. 

The  Austrians  were  driven  out  of  Lombardy,  and  across 
the  Mincio.  Venetia  threw  off  the  hated  yoke,  and  declared 
for  independence.  Hungary  rose,  almost  as  one  man,  demand- 
ing the  restoration  of  their  ancient  constitutional  rights.  The 
doom  of  the  hoary  despotism  seemed  to  be  sealed ;  but  the  sym- 
pathies of  all  the  courts  of  Europe,  excepting  that  of  France, 
and  even  including  England,  were  hostile  to  these  peoples 
struggling  for  constitutional  rights.  In  the  pages  of  Sir 
Archibald  Alison,  the  court  historian,  we  meet  with  the  moet 
painful  demonstration  of  this  fact. 

"It  is,"  says  "The  Edinburgh  Review,"  "utterly  repugnant 
to  the  first  principles  of  our  own  policy  and  to  every  page  in 
our  own  history,  to  lend  encouragement  to  the  separation  of 
nationalities  from  other  empires,  which  we  fiercely  resist  when 
it  threatens  to  dismember  our  own." 

Thus  frowned  upon  by  all  Europe,  and  swept  by  the  disci- 
plined armies  which  Austria  poured  down  through  all  the 
passes  of  the  Tyrolese  Alps,  Italy  was  again  subdued.  Radetz- 
ky,  in  command  of  these  forces,  with  tiger-like  ferocity  deso- 
lated the  land  with  fire  and  sword.  Sardinia  was  compelled 
to  make  a  humiliating  peace.  The  unhappy  Italians  were 
punished  as  slaves  are  punished  who  attempt  an  insurrection 
with  partial  success,  but  with  final  defeat. 

The  conflict  in  Hungary,  and  around  the  very  throne  of  th« 
Austrian  emperor,  demands  a  more  particular  notice.  The  in- 
telligence of  the  revolution  in  Paris  reached  Vienna  on  the  1st 
of  March,  1848.  The  whole  population  of  the  city  was  thrown 
into  a  state  of  the  most  intense  excitement.     The  professon 


522  THE    HOUSE    OF    AUSTRIA, 

of  the  University  of  Vienna,  with  the  stadents,  two  thousand 
in  number,  accompanied  by  an  immerse  concourse  of  the 
people,  crowded  the  imperial  palace,  presenting  a  petition  to 
the  emperor,  respectfully  but  firmly  demanding  that  the  gov- 
ernment should  "introduce  measures  of  reform  tempered  by 
wisdom."  They  implored  a  constitution  which  should  confer 
religious  liberty,  freedom  of  the  press,  and  a  national  legislap 
ture,  in  which  the  people  should  be  represented. 

Prince  Metternich,  who  had  ever  been  the  great  bulwark  of 
despotism,  was  the  especial  object  of  popular  hatred.  In  terror 
he  fled  from  his  palace,  scarcely  venturing  to  lay  aside  his  dis- 
guise, or  to  look  behind  him,  until  he  found  refuge  in  London. 
Ferdinand,  paralyzed  and  overpowered  by  the  popular  feeling, 
which  in  such  resistless  billows  was  dashing  against  his 
throne,  granted  all  the  patriots  asked.  The  ministry  was 
changed,  a  national  guard  organized,  and  despotic  Austria 
seemed  on  the  eve  of  regeneration.  The  people,  demanding 
only  a  constitutional  instead  of  an  absolute  monarchy,  had  no 
disposition  to  dethrone  the  emperor,  and  least  of  all  did  they 
desire  to  run  the  risk  of  attempting  to  exchange  the  monarchy 
for  a  republic.  Gratified  at  the  compliance  of  the  emperor 
with  their  reasonable  requests,  they  rallied  around  him  with 
enthusiasm,  greeting  him  with  applause  whenever  he  appeared. 
This  event,  so  animating  to  every  lover  of  human  freedom,  Sir 
Archibald  Alison  describes  :  — 

"  As  a  convulsion  which  brought  Austria  to  the  brink  of 
ruin,  all  but  swept  it  from  the  book  of  nations,  and  reduced  it 
to  the  humiliation  of  invoking  the  perilous  intervention  of  a 
foreign  power." 

The  intelligence  of  the  revolution  in  Paris  reached  Presburg, 
the  capital  of  Hungary,  when  the  diet  of  that  kingdom  was  in 
session.  Kossuth  and  the  leading  advocates  of  reform  imme- 
diately sent  an  address  to  the  Emperor  Ferdinand,  petition- 
ing for  a  redress  of  grievances  in  Hungary.  The  Hungarian 
patriots  were  willing  that  Hungary  should  remain  under  the 
executive  of  the  Austrian  emperor  :  they  only  demanded  that 
they  should  have  a  legislature  or  parliament  of  their  own, 


AUSTRIA    AND    FRENCH    REVOLUTIONS.      523 

With  freedom  of  the  press  and  of  religious  worship.  Such  a 
request  was  reasonable  and  moderate  in  the  extreme. 

Kossuth,  accompanied  by  one  hundred  and  fifty  Hungarian 
gentlemen,  repaired  to  Vienna,  and  presented  this  petition  to 
the  emperor.  Immense  crowds  in  Vienna  greeted  this  delega- 
tion with  shouts  of  "  Long  live  Kossuth  ! "  The  emperor,  con- 
scious of  his  powerlessness,  promised  to  grant  their  lust  de- 
mands. A  constitution  was  adopted  in  Hungary,  abolishing 
all  aristocratic  jirivileges,  and  making  both  prince  and  peasant 
equal  in  the  eye  of  the,  law.  The  peasants  in  Hungary  had 
long  been  feudal  slares,  attached  to  the  soil,  and  transferred 
with  the  estates,  and  deprived  of  all  political  rights.  Kossuth 
and  his  friends  carried  in  the  Hungarian  diet  a  decree  of 
absolute  and  universal  emancipation. 

"This  sudden  transition,"  it  is  recorded,  "of  the  peasantry 
from  servitude  to  civil  and  political  liberty,  was  nowhere 
stained  in  Hungary  by  riots  or  disorder,  as  was  feared,  or  per- 
haps hoped,  by  the  court  party :  on  the  contrary,  on  most  of 
the  estates  the  peasantry  contributed,  by  their  own  free  will, 
to  the  work  of  the  landlords  during  the  time  of  mowing  and 
harvesting,  that  the  crops  might  not  be  damaged  through  any 
difficulty  in  securing  hired  laborers  for  those  agricultural  ope- 
rations." 

This  beneficent  revolution  introduced  the  Sclavonic  races  to 
all  the  constitutional  rights  and  privileges  which  had  been  so 
long  withheld  from  them.  The  Magyars  were  consistent;  and, 
in  acquiring  liberty  for  themselves,  they  conferred  the  same 
inestimable  boon  upon  the  enslaved  races. 

But  Ferdinand,  while  making  these  forced  concessions,  and 
assuming  content,  was  perfidiously  preparing  for  resistance. 
An  army  was  raised  and  sent  into  Hungary,  and  it  endeavored 
to  take  possession  of  Prague.  The  Hungarians  resisted.  The 
Austrians  planted  their  batteries  on  some  neighboring  heights, 
ftnd  for  forty-eight  hours  bombarded  the  wretched  city,  until 
it  presented  the  most  awful  aspect  of  smouldering  ruins  and 
blood.  The  patriots  for  a  time  were  crushed  ;  but  the  cry  of 
indignation  was  so  loud  and  fierce,  not  only  throughout  Hun 


D24  THE    HOPSE    OF    AUSTRIA. 

gary,  but  through  all  the  streets  of  Vienna,  that  Ferdinand, 
in  terror  and  disguise,  escaped  from  his  capital,  and  fled  to 
Innspruck,  a  strong  fortress  in  the  Tyr«  i,  three  hundred  milea 
south-west  from  Vienna. 

The  flight  of  the  emperor  created  throughout  Austria  a 
jensation  hardly  exceeded  by  that  excited  in  France  by  the 
flight  of  Louis  XVI.  It  was  a  declaration  of  war  against  the 
people,  and  against  all  popular  reform.  The  standing  army 
of  Austria,  ever  the  pliant  tool  of  despotism,  was  now  called 
into  requisition.  The  imperial  troops  commenced,  in  Hun- 
gary, a  war  of  devastation  such  as  earth  has  not  often  wit- 
nessed. The  sky  through  the  wide  horizon  was  illumined  by 
night  with  the  fires  of  burning  villages,  and  was  obscured  by 
day  by  the  smoke  of  these  vast  conflagrations. 

As  we  have  before  mentioned,  there  were  two  principal  races 
in  Hungary,  —  the  Sclaves  and  the  Magyars,  descendants  of 
ancient  Gothic  tribes.  The  Magyar  race  had  been  decidedly 
in  the  ascendency,  the  superior  race,  in  the  possession  of  all 
the  political  power ;  while  the  Sclaves,  greatly  depressed,  oc- 
cupied the  position  of  a  servile  peasantry.  Nearly  all  the 
imperial  troops  drafted  from  Hungary  were  taken  from  the 
Sclaves,  who  composed  about  one-third  of  the  Hungarian  pop- 
ulation. With  the  most  atrocious  perfidy,  Austrian  gold  was 
lavished  to  incite  the  Sclaves  to  rise  against  the  Magyars, 
though  there  was  no  shadow  of  a  plea  for  such  action,  the 
Sclavonic  races  having  been  reinstated  in  all  the  rights  and 
privileges  of  manhood.  Many  of  the  Sclaves,  ignorant  and 
debased,  were  induced  to  enlist  in  the  army  of  the  emperor. 

The  emperor  now  returned  to  Vienna,  and,  with  his  troops 
ravaging  Hungary,  he  issued  an  edict  demanding  the  expul- 
sion of  Kossuth,  the  leader  of  the  patriots,  from  the  Hungarian 
ministry.  Kossuth  was  thus  compelled  to  resign,  and  his  post 
was  assigned  to  a  partisan  of  the  emperor.  But  the  peopie 
rallied  around  Kossuth,  who  had  been  sacrificed  for  his  love  foir 
them ;  and  the  cabinet  at  Vienna  resolved  with  all  the  horrora 
of  war  to  bring  Hungary  again  into  abject  submission  to  its 
sway. 


AUSTRIA    AND    FKENCH    REVOLUTIONS.      525 

On  the  11th  of  September,  1848,  an  army  of  thirty  thousand 
men,  under  the  Austrian  general  Jellachich,  crossed  the  Drave, 
the  frontier  river  of  Hungary,  and  marched  upon  Pesth.  With 
singular  unanimity,  nearly  all  Hungary  sprang  to  arms  in 
self-defence.  The  troops  were  placed  under  the  command  of 
Georgey,  a  Hungarian  noble,  who  had  espoused  the  popular 
cause.  But  Kossuth  was  the  intellectual  head  of  the  nation, 
and  the  soul  of  the  war  which  now  ensued.  His  genius  in- 
spired every  movement;  and  the  Hungarians  rallied  at  his  call 
with  enthusiasm  which  perhaps  has  never  been  equalled. 
One  hundred  thousand  men  were  speedily  enrolled,  and  nn  the 
march  to  repel  the  invaders. 

The  heads  of  the  two  armies  came  together  iu  many  bloody 
conflicts;  and  the  Austrians,  routed  again  and  again,  were 
compelled  to  sue  for  an  armistice.  The  popular  party  in 
Vienna  were  iu  strong  sympathy  with  the  Hungarians ;  and  it 
was  with  manifest  reluctance  that  the  Austrian  troops  could 
be  brought  to  fight  against  those  who  asked  only  for  constitu- 
tional liberty.  Under  these  circumstances,  a  new  revolution 
swept  the  streets  of  Vienna;  and  in  one  day  of  frenzied  up- 
roar and  carnage  the  monarchy  was  again  laid  prostrate  at 
the  feet  of  the  people.  But  though  the  populace,  in  their 
just  and  wild  wrath,  could  destroy  an  execrable  despotism, 
they  had  not  suflBcient  intelligence  and  virtue  to  construct  a 
stable  government  upon  its  ruins. 

A  "  committee  of  public  safety  "  was  appointed,  at  whose 
demand  the  emperor  was  compelled  to  dismiss  his  aristocratic 
ministry,  and  appoint  a  popular  one  in  its  stead.  The  emperor 
also  recalled  his  proclamation  against  Hungary,  removed  the 
detested  Jellachich  from  the  command  of  the  army,  and  grant- 
ed a  general  amnesty  for  all  political  offences.  Again  the 
emperor  sought  refuge  in  flight.  All  the  troops  who  could  be 
relied  upon  were  speedily  assembled  around  the  emperor, 
from  their  wide  dispersion  throughout  the  empire,  and  were 
ordered  to  march  upon  Vienna,  From  the  steeples  of  the  city 
the  dismayed  inhabitants  soon  beheld  an  army  of  sixty  thou- 
sand men  —  infantry,  artillery,  and  cavalry  —  approaching  to 


626  THE     HOUSE    OF    AUSTRIA. 

wreak  upon  them  merciless  vengeauce.  In  a  state  of  indescrib< 
able  consternation  the  whole  city  sprang  to  arms.  On  the 
morning  of  the  20th  of  October,  1848,  the  bombardment 
commenced.  The  roar  of  artiHery,  the  shouts  of  battle,  the 
bursting  of  shells,  the  shrieks  of  the  terrified,  the  cry  of  the 
wounded,  the  frenzy  of  women  and  children,  ruin,  conflagra- 
tion, blood,  all  presented  a  spectacle  which  the  most  vivid 
imagination  cannot  conceive. 

All  the  day  and  all  the  night  the  horrible  storm  continued. 
The  city  was  now  on  fire  in  twenty  places.  The  streets  were 
clogged  with  the  mangled  bodies  of  the  dead.  The  flames, 
spreading  rapidly,  and  flashing  to  the  skies,  threatened  to  con- 
sume the  whole  city  and  all  its  inmates.  Shells,  like  hail- 
stones, were  falling  everywhere,  and  there  was  no  place  of 
safety.  The  city  could  no  longer  be  defended,  and  was  com- 
pelled to  capitulate.  The  imperial  army,  composed  mostly  of 
mercenary  troops,  marched  in  ferociously,  and  took  military 
possession  of  the  city.  All  hopes  of  popular  reform  were  now 
at  an  end;  and  the  old  despotism  was  reconstructed,  and 
cemented  in  the  blood  of  the  people. 

But  Ferdinand  I.  was  now  weary  of  his  crow&,  which  to 
him  had  proved  truly  a  crown  of  thorns.  He  resolved  to  ab- 
dicate ;  and  as  he  had  no  children,  and  as  his  brother  Charles 
refused  the  perilous  gift  of  sovereignty,  the  sceptre  was  trans- 
ferred to  Francis  Joseph,  the  son  of  Charles,  a  young  man 
eighteen  years  of  age.  It  was  the  2d  of  December,  1848. 
The  young  emperor,  hoping  to  quiet  the  restlessness  of  his 
re-enslaved  people,  promised  to  confer  upon  them  a  liberal  con- 
stitution, —  a  promise  which  it  became  subsequently  manifest 
that  he  had  no  intention  of  performing.  The  inhabitants 
of  Vienna,  exhausted  by  war,  in  submission,  accepted  the 
promise. 

But  the  inhabitants  of  Hungary,  while  willing  to  acknowl- 
edge the  sovereignty  of  the  emperor,  still  demanded  a  parlia- 
raent  of  their  own.  The  kingdom  of  Hungary  contained 
one  hundred  and  thirty-three  thousand  square  miles,  being  one- 
tenth  larger  than  England  and  Ireland  united,  and  numbered 


AUSTFIA    AND     FRENCH    BEV0LUTI0N8.      627 

a  population  of  about  thirteen  million.  They  firmly  claimed, 
that,  while  they  cordially  accepted  the  executive  authority  of 
the  Emperor  of  Austria,  they  should  enjoy  a  Hungarian  legis- 
lature. But  the  young  emperor,  Francis  Joseph,  flushed  with 
the  subjugation  of  his  subjects  in  Austria  proper,  treated  the 
demand  as  insolence.  He  abolished  the  Hungarian  constitu- 
tion, dissolved  the  legislative  bodies,  and  threw  into  prison  the 
Hungarian  commissioners  sent  to  confer  with  him.  At  the 
same  time  the  imperial  army,  which  by  a  bombardment  had 
8o  successfully  chastised  Vienna  into  subjection,  was  sent  into 
Hungary  to  inflict  the  same  doom  upon  Pesth,  then  the  Hun- 
garian  capital.    • 

All  the  horrors  of  civil  war  now  desolated  Hungary.  Jella- 
chich,  the  Austrian  commander-in-chief,  issued  a  proclamation, 
in  which  he  threatened  to  shoot  every  Hungarian  taken  with 
arms  in  his  hands,  and  to  demolish  every  town  which  should 
present  the  least  resistance.  As  the  imperial  army  with  its 
veteran  soldiers  approached  the  capital,  the  Hungarian  Govern- 
ment, with  Kossuth  at  its  head,  retired  to  Debreczin,  about 
two  hundred  miles  east  of  Pesth.  It  was  on  the  6th  of  Janu- 
ary, 1849,  when  this  retreat  commenced ;  and  the  Hungarian 
army,  encumbered  with  thousands  of  citizens,  women  and  chil- 
dren, suffered  all  that  mortals  can  endure,  multitudes  perishing 
of  cold,  starvation,  and  misery.  The  Austrians  took  possession 
of  Pesth ;  but,  with  the  mercury  only  five  degrees  above  zero, 
they  did  not  venture  to  pursue  the  retiring  Hungarians. 

In  this  dark  hour  a  speech  from  Kossuth  seemed  to  electrify 
all  Hungary ;  and  the  nation,  as  one  man,  sprang  to  arms. 
Month  after  month  the  war  raged  all  over  the  kingdom  with 
varied  success.  But  gradually  the  Hungarians  were  gaining 
ground-  In  battle  after  battle  they  were  driving  back  their 
invaders ;  and  Austria  found  that  her  mercenary  troops  were 
not  able  to  crush  a  heroic  nation  roused  to  despair.  Francis 
Joseph  then  appealed  to  Russia  for  help.  The  great  northern 
autocrat  listened  eagerly  to  the  appeal ;  for  Nicholas  feared, 
that,  should  the  Hungarians  secure  constitutional  liberty,  the 
Polanders  might  demand  the  same  boon.     There  was  not  a 

W 


628  THE    HOUSE    OF    AUSTRIA. 

single  nation  in  Europe  iu  sympathy  with  the  Hungarians, 
excepting  France ;  and  France  was  then  menaced  with  a  coali- 
tion of  all  Europe  to  restore  that  aristocratic  regime  which 
for  a  fourth  time  she  had  rejected.  Even  the  British  Govern- 
ment, through  Lord  Palmerston,  sanctioned  the  intervention 
of  Russia  in  this  cruel  war  against  Hungary,  assuming  that 
the  Hungarians  were  subjects  in  revolt  against  their  lawful 
sovereign. 

The  serried  battalions  of  Russia  were  instantly  on  the 
march,  a  hundred  and  sixty-two  thousand  strong,  to  join  the 
vast  armies  which  Austria  had  raised,  the  two  most  powerful 
despotisms  on  the  globe  combining  against  ^  heroic  people, 
demanding  only  a  constitutional  monarchy.  Still  Hungary 
bore  up  bravely,  without  one  thought  of  yielding  even  to 
Russia  and  Austria  in  coalition.  By  a  stupendous  effort  an 
army  was  raised  of  one  hundred  and  forty  thousand  men. 
Renowned  battles  ensued,  and  victories  were  won,  which 
struck  the  allies  with  dismay,  and  which  caused  every  Hun- 
garian heart  to  throb  with  rapture.  There  were  many  deeds 
of  valor  and  magnanimity  performed  by  the  Hungarians  which 
merit  immortal  renown.  But,  unfortunately,  there  now  arose  a 
serious  division  among  the  Hungarian  chiefs.  Kossuth,  the 
intellectual  guide  and  head  of  the  Hungarian  struggle,  was 
for  declaring  independence.  Georgey,  who  was  commander- 
in-chief  of  the  army,  was  in  favor  of  still  remaining  under  the 
Austrian  monarchy,  seeking  only  the  reform  of  abuses.  The 
counsels  of  Kossuth  triumphed  ;  and  on  tbe  14th  of  April, 
1849,  Hungary  issued  her  declaration  of  independence,  and 
Kossuth  was  by  acclamation  elected  governor.  There  was 
extraordinary  unanimity  throughout  the  nation  in  these  meas- 
ures ;  but  Georgey,  whose  counsels  had  been  rejected,  was 
exceedingly  chagrined  and  indignant. 

Austria  and  Russia  now  roused  themselves  to  redoubled 
efforts.  They  raised  a  united  army  of  two  hundred  and  forty 
thousand  men,  and  with  this  enormous  force  again  marched 
upon  Hungary.  But  there  was  no  longer  confidence  between 
the   governor  of   the  republic    and  the   commander-in-chief 


AUSTRIA    AND    FBBNOH    REVOLUTIOX8.     529 

of  the  army.  Georgey  openly  proclaimed  his  disapproval  of 
the  declaration  of  independence,  and  Kossuth  watched  him 
with  an  anxious  eye.  A  series  of  unfortunate  battles  ensued, 
in  which  the  Hungarians,  though  they  fought  with  bravery 
never  surpassed,  were  generally  worsted.  Treason  was  bit- 
terly suspected  as  the  Hungarians  were  again  and  again  over- 
powered. At  last  it  became  evident  that  Hungary  must  fall. 
These  reverses,  seeming  to  confirm  the  judgment  of  Georgey, 
strengthened  his  influence,  and  roused  his  party  to  more 
decisive  action. 

Under  these  circumstances  Kossuth  resigned  his  office  of 
governor,  and  Georgey  was  invested  with  dictatorial  power. 
The  other  leading  generals  of  the  army,  with  Kossuth,  felt 
that  they  had  been  betrayed.  General  Bern,  in  an  interview 
with  Georgey,  was  so  impressed  with  the  conviction  of  his 
treachery,  that  he  refused  to  accept,  in  parting,  his  proffered 
hand.  Mounting  his  horse,  he  galloped  to  meet  at  an  appointed 
rendezvous,  in  the  ancient  forest  of  Lugos,  several  hundred  of 
his  fellow-soldiers,  chiefly  officers. 

"  Hungary,"  said  he,  "  has  fallen,  betrayed  rather  than 
conquered.  To-morrow  it  will  be  proclaimed  that  'order 
reigns  in  Pesth,'  —  the  order  of  the  executioner.  I  have  no 
wish  to  influence  others;  but  so  long  as  I  have  an  inch  of  steel 
in  my  hand,  or  a  brave  man  at  my  side,  I  will  defend  the  cans© 
to  which  I  have  devoted  my  body,  my  soul,  my  blood,  and  my 
life." 

Nearly  the  whole  band  received  these  words  with  acclama- 
tion, and,  conscious  of  their  inability  any  longer  to  maintain 
the  struggle,  retreated  to  the  mountains  of  Transylvania. 
Georgey  made  an  unconditional  surrender  of  his  whole  army 
of  nearly  thirty  thousand  men,  with  one  hundred  and  forty 
guns,  to  the  Russians.  The  scene  of  surrender  was  made  by 
the  proud  victor  one  of  great  military  pomp  and  triumph,  and 
to  the  vanquished  it  was  as  melancholy  and  humiliating  as 
can  well  be  imagined.  This  event  took  place  at  two  o'clock  in 
the  afternoon  of  the  14th  of  August,  1849,  at  Szollos,  which 
•pot  h<i%  thus  been  rendered  forever  memorable. 


630  THE    HOUSE     OF    AaSIRIA. 

At  the  same  time,  by  the  order  of  Georgey,  all  the  fortresseB 
in  his  possession,  and  the  dispersed  coips  of  the  army,  were 
surrendered  to  the  allies,  and  Hungary  was  again  a  shackled 
slave  at  the  feet  of  her  conquerors.  Confiscations,  imprison- 
ments, and  executions  ensued,  which  extorted  a  wail  of  anguish 
so  loud  and  prolonged,  that  it  thrilled  upon  the  ears  of  all 
Christendom.  Georgey  was  pardoned;  hut  fourteen  of  his 
highest  officers,  men  whose  virtues  and  heroism  had  secured 
the  admiration  of  Europe,  perished  upon  the  scaffi)ld.  Kos- 
suth, accompanied  by  about  five  thousand  Hungarians,  escaped 
into  the  Turkish  territory,  and  took  refuge  in  Orsova,  where 
they  were  nobly  protected  by  the  Sultan  from  their  foes,  clam- 
orous for  their  blood.  From  Turkey  they  finally  secured  a 
passage  to  England,  and  thence  to  America,  and  were  scattered 
all  over  the  world,  the  martyrs  of  liberty. 

Kossuth,  after  pleading  in  America  the  cause  of  his  country 
in  strains  of  eloquence  never  surpassed  in  Ancient  Greece  or 
Rome,  returned  to  England,  where  he  has  since  remained, 
almost  the  idol  of  every  generous  heart,  despairingly  awaiting 
the  dawn  of  a  brighter  day.  The  infamous  Haynau,':Who  by 
his  atrocities  in  sending  the  most  illustrious  men  to  the  scaf- 
fold, and  in  causing  ladies  of  the  highest  rank  to  be  scourged, 
has  acquired  the  nickname  of  the  "  Hangman "  and  the 
"  Hyena,"  was  appointed  the  Austrian  governor  of  Hungary  ; 
and  he  ruled  the  subjugated  realm  with  a  rod  of  iron.  The 
constitution  was  annulled,  trial  by  jury  abolished,  the  censor- 
ship of  the  press  established,  and  freedom  of  religious  worship 
prohibited.     The  Jesuits  were  again  restored  to  power. 

Austria,  having  been  thus  effectually  aided  by  Russia,  could 
not  join  England,  France,  and  Turkey  against  the  Czar  ia 
the  campaign  of  Sevastopol.  Francis  Joseph  assumed  neutra* 
lity.  But  Nicholas  was  highly  indignant  that  the  Emperor 
of  Austria  did  not  fly  to  his  aid.  Consequently,  at  the  close  of 
th6  war,  the  Emperor  of  Russia,  rejecting  friendly  intercourse 
with  Austria,  sought  friendship  and  alliance  with  France. 
Still  it  was  manifest  that  the  interests  of  Russia  and  Austria 
were  so  identical,  as  the  two  leading  aristocratic  despotisms 


AUSTRIA    AND     FRENCH    REVOLUTIONS.     631 

of  Europe,  that,  to  resist  the  people  struggling  for  liberty,  they 
would  be  compelled  to  unite. 

The  rapid  advance  which  Sardinia  has  recently  been  making 
in  the  path  of  constitutional  liberty  was  exciting  the  Austrian 
dominions  in  Italy  to  strike  for  the  same  progress.  Austria, 
alarmed,  sent  an  army  of  two  hundred  thousand  men  into 
Sardinia.  France  immediately  sent  an  army,  which  the  em- 
peror led  in  person,  to  aid  the  Sardinians  to  repel  the  invaders. 
In  every  battle  the  Austrians  were  routed.  They  were  driven 
out  of  Piedmont  and  of  Lombardy ;  and,  after  the  dreadful 
carnage  of  Magenta  and  Solferino,  the  French  and  Sardinians 
were  about  to  drive  the  Austrians  from  Venetia,  and  thus 
entirely  from  Italy,  when  Russia,  Prussia,  and  England  inter- 
posed their  remonstrances.  Their  threat  to  unite  with  Aus- 
tria against  France,  Sardinia,  and  all  Italy,  then  rising  in 
arms,  which  would  have  introduced,  probably,  the  most  desolat- 
ing war  earth  has  ever  known,  compelled  France  and  Sardinia 
to  assent  to  the  treaty  of  peace  called  the  Treaty  of  Villafranca. 

By  this  treaty  Lombardy  was  wrested  from  Austria,  and, 
to  the  inexpressible  joy  of  its  inhabitants,  united  with  the 
Italian  kingdom  of  Sardinia.  The  Duchies  of  Tuscany,  Par- 
ma, and  Modena  also  drove  off  their  Austrian  masters,  and, 
protected  by  France  against  Austrian  invasion,  joined  also 
the  Sardinian  kingdom.  The  Venetians,  from  the  highest 
elations  of  hope,  were  again  plunged  into  unutterable  despair, 
as  they  were  left  helpless  in  the  hands  of  their  detested  mas- 
ters. Hungary,  also,  was  on  the  eve  of  a  new  struggle  for 
liberty,  elated  by  the  fact  that  the  Austrian  army  was  fully 
engrossed  by  the  struggle  with  France  and  Sardinia.  New 
gleams  of  joy  began  to  penetrate  the  despairing  mind  of  Kos- 
Buth.  He  repaired  to  Italy,  issued  a  proclamation  to  his 
countrymen,  and  in  a  few  weeks  would  have  been  at  the  head 
of  all  Hungary  in  arms,  when  the  peace  of  Villafranca  blight- 
ed all  their  prospects,  liberating  a  veteran  army  of  two  hun- 
dred thousand  Austrian  troops  to  crush  the  slightest  movement 
of  the  Hungarian  people. 

But  again  Venetia  and  Hungary  are  grasping  their  arms, 


632 


THE    HOUSE    OF    AT7STRIA. 


preparing  to  strike  simultaneously  and  desperately  for  free* 
dom.  Tlie  wonderful  success  of  Garibaldi,  in  emancipating 
Sicily  and  Naples  from  intolerable  despotism,  and  annexing 
tliem  to  the  Sardinian  kingdom,  thus  forming  a  kingdom  of 
Italy  consisting  of  nearly  twenty  million  of  inhabitants,  proba- 
bly secures  the  emancipation  of  the  Papal  States,  also,  from  the 
detested  sway  of  the  Pope.  This  will  unite  all  Italy,  except- 
ing Venetia,  in  the  Kingdom  of  Italy.  This  will  certainly  be 
followed  by  a  rising  of  the  Venetians  to  break  the  Austrian 
yoke,  and  unite  with  their  Italian  brethren.  Austria  will 
pour  her  armies  into  Venetia;  and  Hungary  will  instantly 
rise.  Russia,  it  is  said,  is  even  now  preparing  to  march  to  the 
help  of  Austria,  France,  it  is  said,  is  prepared  to  march  to 
the  help  of  Italy.     What  will  the  British  Government  do  ? 

The  last  arrivals  from  Europe  announce  the  following  as 
the  substance  of  an  important  telegram  recently  received  from 
Vienna :  — 

"  The  Emperor  Alexander  and  his  government  desire  sin- 
cerely a  perfect  reconciliation  with  Austria.  The  good  under- 
standing between  Austria  and  Russia  ought  never  to  have 
been  interrupted.  The  necessary  arrangement  for  a  meeting 
between  the  two  emperors  will  be  made  without  delay ;  and 
measures  will  be  taken  to  put  an  end  to  the  present  state  of 
things,  which  is  no  longer  tolerable." 

Such  is  the  attitude  of  Austria,  and  of  these  great  questions 
of  reform,  as  the  autumnal  leaves  of  1860  are  falling  to  the 
ground. 

This  powerful  empire,  as  at  present  constituted,  embraces :  — 


1.  The  hereditary  States  of  Austria,  contai 

2.  The  duchy  of  Styria 

a  Tyrol 

4.  Bohemia 

0.  Moravia 

6.  Theduchy  of  AuschnitzinGalicia 

7.  lUyria 

8.  Hungary 

9.  Dalmatia 

At.  Venetia 

U.  Galicia 


ning  76,199  square  miles,  9,843,490  inhabitanta. 


8,4o4 
11,569 
20,172 
10,192 
1,843 
9,132 
125,105 
6,827 
8.270 
82,272 


780,100 

738,000 

3,380,000 

1,805,600 

»35,190 

897,000 

10,628,500 

320,000 

2.000.000 

4,075,000 


Thus  the  whole  Austrian  monarchy  contains  256,399  square 


AUSTRIA  AND  FRENCH  KEVOLUIIONS.   532 

miles,  and  a  populatiou  which  now  probably  exceeds  forty  mil- 
hons.  The  standing  army  of  this  immense  monarchy  in  time 
of  peace  consists  of  271,400  men,  which  includes  39,000  horse 
and  17,790  artillery.  In  time  of  war  this  force  can  be  in- 
creased to  almost  any  conceivable  amount. 

Thus  slumbers  tiiis  vast  despotism,  in  the  heart  of  central 
Europe,  the  China  of  the  Christian  world.  The  utmost  vigi- 
lance is  practised  by  the  government  to  seclude  its  subjects, 
as  far  as  possible,  from  all  intercourse  with  more  free  and  en- 
lightened nations.  The  government  is  in  continual  dread  lest 
the  kingdom  should  be  invaded  by  those  liberal  opinions 
which  are  circulating  in  other  parts  of  Europe.  The  young 
men  are  prohibited,  by  an  imperial  decree,  from  leaving  Aus- 
tria to  prosecute  their  studies  in  foreign  universities.  "Be 
careful,"  said  Francis  II.  to  the  professors  in  the  univeraity  at 
Labach,  "not  to  teach  too  much.  I  do  not  want  learned  men 
in  my  kingdom  :  I  want  good  subjects,  who  will  do  as  I  bid 
them."  Some  of  the  wealthy  families,  anxious  to  give  their 
children  an  elevated  education,  and  prohibited  from  sending 
them  abroad,  engaged  private  tutors  from  France  and  England. 
The  government  took  tne  alarm,  and  forbade  the  employment 
of  any  but  native  teachers.  The  Bible,  the  great  chart  of 
human  liberty,  all  despots  fear  and  hate.  In  1822  a  decree 
was  issued  by  the  emperor,  prohibiting  the  distribution  of  the 
Bible  in  any  part  of  the  Austrian  dominions. 

The  censorship  of  the  press  is  rigorous  in  the  extreme.  No 
printer  in  Austria  would  dare  to  issue  the  sheet  we  now  write ; 
and  no  traveller  would  be  permitted  to  take  this  book  across  the 
frontier.  Twelve  public  censors  are  established  at  Vienna,  to 
whom  every  book  published  within  the  empire,  whether  origi- 
nal or  reprinted,  must  be  referred.  No  newspaper  or  maga- 
zine is  tolerated  which  does  not  advocate  despotism.  Only 
those  items  of  foreign  intelligence  are  admitted  into  tho3« 
papers  which  the  emperor  is  willing  his  subjects  should  know. 
The  freedom  of  republican  America  is  carefully  excluded. 
The  slavery  which  disgraces  our  land  is  ostentatiously  ex- 
hibited in  harrowing  descriptions  and  appalling  engravings  as 


534  THE    HOUSE    OF    AUSTEIA. 

a  specimen  of  the  degradation  to  which  republican   mstito 

tions  doom  the  laboring  class. 

A  few  years  ago  an  English  gentleman  dined  with  Prince 
Metternich,  the  illustrious  prime  minister  of  Austria,  in  his 
beautiful  castle  upon  the  Rhine.  As  they  stood,  after  dinner, 
at  one  of  the  windows  of  the  palace,  looking  out  upon  the 
peasants  laboring  in  the  vineyards,  Metternich,  in  the  follow- 
ing words,  developed  his  theory  of  social  order :  — 

"  Our  policy  is  to  extend  all  possible  material  happiness  to 
the  whole  population ;  to  admi'nister  the  laws  patriarchally ; 
to  prevent  their  tranquillity  from  being  disturbed.  Is  it  not 
delightful  to  see  those  people  looking  so  contented,  so  much  in 
the  possession  of  what  makes  them  comfortable,  so  well  fed, 
so  well  clad,  so  quiet,  and  so  religiously  observant  of  order? 
If  they  are  injured  in  persons  or  property,  they  have  immedi- 
ate and  unexpensive  redress  before  out  tribunals  ;  and,  in  that 
respect,  neither  I  nor  any  nobleman  in  the  land  has  tbt 
unallest  advantage  over  a  p«aunt.'' 


APPENDIX. 

THE     NEW    CONSTITUTION,     AND     SEPARATION     FROM 
GERMANY. 

The  Reichsrath  transformed  into  a  National  Lbgislatitbk.  — The  "Path 
OP  Constitutionalism." — Jealousy  between  Austria  and  Prussia.— 
War  with  Denmark.  —  Quarrel  between  Austria  and  Prussia  about 

SCHLESWIG-UOLSTEIN.  —  ALLIA.NCE      BETWEEN      PRUSSIA     AND     ItALT. — THB 

Six  "Weeks'  War  and  Sadowa.  —  Italy  gains  Venbtia.  —  Austria  loses 
HER  Place  in  Germany.  —  The  Path  op  Constitutionalism  onck  more. 
—  Reconciliation  of  IIunoary.  — Bosnia  and  Herzeoovinia. 

rriHERE  is  an  old  proverb  which  says,  "  It  is  always  dark- 
■■-  est  just  before  daylight."  This  seems  often  to  be  the 
case,  not  only  in  the  lives  of  individual  men,  but  also  in  the 
history  of  the  great  advances  in  reform  and  freedom  which 
have  been  made  among  nations.  The  history  of  Austria  is 
a  good  illustration.  As  was  said  in  the  last  chapter,  the 
year  1860  found  Austria  sunk  in  the  darkest  night  of  despot- 
ism. The  heroic  struggle  of  the  Hungarians  for  freedom 
had  failed.  Their  chains  seemed  to  be  more  firmly  riveted 
than  ever.  The  constitution,  which  had  been  wrung  from 
the  emperor  by  the  agitation  which  the  Hungarian  uprising 
had  produced,  after  a  languid  existence  of  a  few  years,  was 
withdrawn.  Except  Venetia,  the  Italian  provinces  had  in- 
deed gained  their  independence  ;  but  poor  Venetia  seemed 
to  be  held  in  a  grasp  as  cruel  and  hopeless  as  ever. 

The  tranquillity  of  repression  and  despair  reigned,  but 
already  the  sun  of  a  more  hopeful  day  was  rising.  The  year 
1860  saw  the  beginning  of  a  new  era  for  Austria.     Her  wis- 


536  THE     HOUSE     OF     AUSTRIA. 

est  statesmen  saw  that  she  could  no  longer  stem  the  rapidly 
rising  tide  of  liberal  influences,  and  keep  her  place  among 
the  nations. 

Without  warning, — apparently  By  a  sudden  impulse, — 
really,  doubtless,  because  he  had  the  wisdom  to  see  that  he 
could  no  longer  do  otherwise  safely,  the  Emperor  Francis 
Joseph  entered  "  on  the  path  of  constitutionalism." 

The  numbers  and  the  power  of  the  Reichsrath,  or  council 
of  the  empire,  were  enlarged  by  a  patent  issued  in  March ; 
and  on  the  2l8t  of  October  a  new  constitution  was  promul- 
gated, in  which  the  emperor  expressly  renounced  the  despotic 
powers  which  he  and  his  predecessors  had  so  long  and  so 
earnestly  cherished,  and  declared  that  hereafter  the  right 
to  issue,  alter,  and  abolish  laws  was  to  be  exercised  by  him 
and  his  successors  only  with  the  co-operation  of  the  lawfully 
assembled  diets  and  of  the  Reichsrath. 

This  was  followed  by  propositions  in  regard  to  similar 
changes  in  Hungary ;  and  on  the  27th  of  February,  1861, 
a  decree  was  issued,  that  Hungary,  Croatia,  Sclavonia,  and 
Transylvania  should  have  the  constitutions  restored  which 
formerly  belonged  to  them  respectively. 

At  the  same  time  a  "  fundamental  law"  was  established, 
which  decreed  representative  institutions  for  the  empire. 
By  this  law  the  Reichsrath  was  converted  into  a  constitu- 
tional legislature  composed  of  two  bodies;  viz.,  peers  and 
deputies.  That  is,  an  upper  and  a  lower  house,  similar  to 
the  Lords  and  Commons  of  England,  or  the  Senate  and  Rep- 
resentatives of  our  own  country.  And  this  fundaihental  law 
declared  the  constitution  and  duties  of  each  body.  On  the 
1st  of  May  the  new  Reichsrath  was  formally  opened  by  the 
emperor  at  Vienna.  He  then  declared  his  conviction,  that 
"  liberal  institutions,  with  the  conscientious  introduction  and 
maintenance  of  the  principles  of  equal  rights  of  all  the  na- 
tionalities of  his  empire  ;  of  the  equality  of  all  his  subjects 
in  the  eye  of  the  law  ;  of  the  participation  of  the  represent- 


THE     NEW     CONSTITUTION,      ETC.  SS'j 

fttives  of  the  people  in  the  legislature,  —  would  lead  to  the 
salutary  transformation  of  the  whole  monarchy." 

Hungary,  Croatia,  Sclavonia,  and  Transylvania  declined 
to  send  representatives  to  this  Reichsrath.  They  claimed 
that  they  had  constitutions  of  their  own,  and  rights  distinct 
from  those  of  the  empire  at  large. 

But  although  all  the  details  of  the  reform  could  not  be 
carried  out  at  once,  although  all  the  conflicting  claims  of 
the  many  and  varied  nationalities  which  compose  the  Aus- 
trian empire  could  not  be  satisfied  and  adjusted  in  a  moment, 
the  "path  of  constitutionalism,"  which  had  seemed  so 
dreadful  heretofore  to  the  Emperors  of  Austria,  was  now 
fairly  entered  upon ;  and,  with  a  few  exceptions,  up  to  the 
present  time  it  has  not  been  departed  from.  Indeed,  Austria 
has  gone  so  far  and  so  long  in  this  path  now,  that  it  would 
be  difficult  if  not  impossible  for  her  to  turn  aside  from  it 
into  the  old  ways  of  autocratic  repression.  The  spirit  of 
the  age  has  fairly  lifted  this  old  despotism  off  its  feet,  and 
set  it  on  a  higher  plane  of  freedom  ;  and  this  has  been  done 
by  an  apparently  bloodless  revolution.  But  not  really  so ; 
for  the  revolts  of  1848,  and  the  apparently  disastrous  strug- 
gle of  the  Hungarians  for  freedom,  have  borne  late  fruit  in 
the  reformation  of  Austrian  government.  Not  only  that, 
but  the  events  which  we  are  now  about  to  describe  have 
helped  on  the  cause  of  constitutionalism  by  changing  en- 
tirely the  position  of  Austria  in  Germany. 

Austria  had  for  centuries  held  the  leading  place  in  the 
German  Confederation  ;  but,  since  the  days  of  Frederick  the 
Great,  Prussia  had  been  rising  in  power  and  influence.  The 
smaller  States  of  Germany  grouped  themselves  about  these 
two  great  powers.  Between  them  there  had  naturally  arisen 
a  great  and  growing  jealousy.  The  North  of  Germany, 
represented  by  Prussia,  was  commercial  in  its  interests. 
The  South,  represented  by  Austria,  was  agricultural.  In 
the  North,  there  was  industry,  progress,  education.     In  the 


638  THE     HOUSE      O*      AUSTRIA. 

South,  there  had  been  more  repression  and  oonservatieHB. 

The  North  was  Protestant,  and  bad  experienced  all  the  awak- 
ening tendencies  which  Protestantism  has  always  carried 
with  it.  The  South  had  remained  under  the  blighting  influ- 
ence of  popery.  Since  the  days  of  the  Reformation,  North 
and  South  Germany,  Prussia,  and  Austria  had  more  thao 
once  been  at  war  with  each  other ;  and  these  conflicts  were 
not  forgotten.  Now  a  new  tide  of  popular  impulse  was  ris- 
ing, which  was  destined  to  renew  the  conflict.  Since  the 
days  of  the  wars  of  Napoleon,  a  great  desire  had  arisen  foi 
the  union  of  the  German  people  under  one  government. 
German  patriots  felt  that  it  was  a  great  loss  and  damage 
to  this  great  people  —  one  'in  language  and  in  interests  —  to 
go  on  longer  weakened  by  petty  political  divisions,  split 
up  in  a  crowd  of  discordant  kingdoms  and  principalities, 
only  loosely  held  together  in  a  confederation  when  they 
might  be  one  great  nation.  The  Prussian  Government, 
guided  now  by  Bismarck,  the  keenest,  most  daring,  and  most 
able  of  modem  statesmen,  constituted  itself  the  champion 
of  this  national  aspiration.  It  was  natural  that  German 
patriots  should  look  to  Prussia  rather  than  Austria  as  their 
leader,  because,  although  Prussia  was  far  from  being  liberal 
in  government,  she  was  purely  German  ;  while  the  Austrian 
empire  was  made  up  of  many  nationalities,  and  only  a  small 
part  of  it  was  German  at  all.  Bohemians  and  Hungarians 
and  Croats  could  have  little  interest  in  a  united  German 
fatherland. 

The  first  step  toward  the  realization  of  this  long-cherished 
dream  was  now  to  be  taken.  The  means  which  were  used 
to  further  this  noble  end  were,  we  must  admit,  unworthy  d 
so  great  a  cause. 

Three  small  German  duchies,  Schleswig,  Holstein,  and 
Lauenburg,  had  been  attached  to  Denmark.  By  a  treaty 
called  the  Treaty  of  London,  made  in  1852,  the  succession 
to  the  government  of  these  duchies  was  fixed  in  the  Danish 


THE     NEW     CONSTITUTION,      ETC.  539 

cro¥m.  Anstxia  and  Prussia  had  signed  this  treaty.  Oo 
the  loth  of  November,  1863,  Ferdinand  VU.,  King  of  Den- 
maik,  died ;  and  there  was  a  general  ferment  of  opinion 
throughout  Germany  on  the  subject  of  these  duchies.  There 
was  a  doubt  as  to  the  right  of  the  new  Danish  king,  Chris- 
tian IX. ,  to  the  succession.  It  seemed  possible  now  to  dc 
something  toward  uniting  Germany.  Austria  and  Prussia 
denied  the  right  of  Denmark.  The  matter  came  before  the 
diet.  The  duchies  were  claimed  as  part  of  Germany,  anu 
a  decree  of  execution  was  put  forth  against  Christian  EX. 
by  the  diet  of  the  German  Confederation. 

It  was  intended  that  this  decree  should  be  earned  out  by 
detachments  of  such  troops  of  all  the  States  included  in  the 
Confederation  as  might  be  determined  upon  by  the  diet ;  and, 
in  accordance  with  this,  troops  from  Hanover  and  Saxony 
marched  into  Holstein,  and  the  Danes  retired  into  Schleswig. 

But  this  did  not  suit  the  purpose  of  Prussia.  She  artfully 
proxx)sed  that  Austria  and  Prussia  alone,  as  the  leading  pow- 
ers in  Germany,  should  execute  the  decree.  To  this  Austria 
assented;  and  hostilities  began  Feb.  1,  1864.  There  could 
be  but  one  result  of  such  a  war.  It  was  the  strong  against 
the  weak.  On  whichever  side  the  right  was,  the  might  was 
not  with  the  Danes.  Perhaps  they  ought  to  have  had  the 
assistance  of  England.  She  was  one  of  the  parties  to  the 
Treaty  of  London.  But  England  was  not  prepared  to  go  to 
war  with  Austria  and  Prussia.  The  Danes  got  only  an  empty 
sympathy  from  England  ;  and  after  a  heroic  stand,  in  whidi 
they  proved  themselves  worthy  foes  of  their  powerful  antago- 
nists, they  were  conquered.  On  Oct.  30,  1864,  the  Treaty 
of  \ienna  was  signed,  making  over  the  duchies  to  Germany. 

Now  the  question  was,  how  to  dispose  of  them.  Prussia 
laid  claim  to  Holstein.  She  said  it  was  hers  by  inheritance ; 
that  annexation  to  Prussia  would  be  very  advantageous  to 
the  interests  of  Germany  in  general  and  not  antagonistic 
to  Austria  in  partlcalar ;   that  the  geographical  poeitioQ  ci 


640  THE     HOUSE     OF     AUSTRIA. 

the  two  countries  would  make  it  necessary  for  Prussia  to 
guard  Holstein. 

Austria  said  No !  to  all  this.  She  had  been  intrusted  by 
the  diet  with  the  carrying  out  of  this  matter,  and  could  make 
no  such  arrangement  as  Prussia  proposed.  At  any  rate, 
Austria  could  not  allow  Prussia  to  have  this  increase  of  terri- 
tory without  a  corresponding  increase  on  her  part. 

And  so  the  quarrel  about  the  dividing  of  poor  little  Den- 
mark's spoils  went  on,  as  doubtless  Bismarck  expected  it 
would.  For  really  it  was  more  than  a  quarrel  about  waich 
should  get  a  small  slice  more  of  territory  than  the  other.  It 
was  the  beginning  of  strife  between  the  old  order  of  tnings 
and  the  new  spirit  of  German  unity.  It  was  becoming  evi- 
dent that  a  united  fatherland  would  exalt  Prussia  and  injure 
Austria.  And  so  the  policy  of  Austria  was  to  keep  the  small 
German  States  separate.  She  made  herself  the  champion  of 
the  Confederation  and  the  diet  which  had  designed  making 
Holstein  an  independent  state  under  the  auspices  of  the  diet 
and  governed  by  some  popular  prince. 

It  is  a  singular  fact,  that  not  only  the  conservative  attitude 
of  Austria  as  to  German  politics  was  getting  her  into  trouble 
with  Prussia,  but  her  new  departure  toward  constitutional 
freedom  was  actually  a  means  of  aggravating  the  difBculty. 
For  Prussia  and  her  great  prime  minister,  Bismarck,  although 
representing  the  patriotism  of  Germany  as  to  the  question  of 
a  united  fatherland,  came  very  far  from  representing  popular 
Jberty.  The  Prussian  Government  was  a  despotism  more 
enlightened,  but  not  less  stern,  than  that  from  which  Austria 
was  just  emerging.  The  liberals  in  the  duchies,  while  they 
may  have  loved  German  unity,  loved  freedom  more ;  and 
Austria  with  her  new  constitution  began  to  seem  like  a  great 
sun  rising  out  of  midnight  darkness.  They,  therefore,  turned 
to  her,  and  preferred  that  she,  rather  than  Prussia,  should 
control  their  destinies  ;  and  others  of  the  smaller  German 
States   sympathized  with  them.     Particularly  in  Schleswig^ 


THE     NEW     CONSTITUTION,      KTC.  541 

which  for  the  present  was  uuder  the  jomt  administx^ioD  of 
Austria  and  Prussia,  things  were  said  and  done  which  gave 
offense  to  Prussia.  Her  officials  wanted  to  repress  the  ex- 
pression of  popular  feeling.  Austria,  consistently  with  ber 
new-fledged  freedom,  and,  perhaps,  because  popular  expres- 
sion favored  her  side  of  the  quarrel,  encouraged  it.  Bitten 
recriminations  passed  between  the  courts  of  the  two  great 
powers. 

At  last  the  strife  was  quieted  by  a  meeting  of  the  Emperor 
Francis  Joseph  with  King  William  at  Gastein  near  Salzbui^. 
An  agreement  was  then  made  between  them,  by  which  the 
administration  of  the  newly  acquired  territory  was  divided, 
Prussia  taking  charge  of  Schleswig,  and  Austria  of  Hol- 
stein. 

The  "Convention  of  Gastein"  seemed  to  produce  quiet, 
but  there  were  other  causes  of  disturbance.  Italy,  ever  oq 
the  watch  for  an  opportunity  to  redeem  Venetia,  was  culti- 
vating friendship  with  Prussia.  Bismarck,  seeing  doubtless 
that  the  trouble  with  Austria  was  quieted  only  in  appearance 
and  for  the  moment,  and  knowing  how  valuable  the  aid  ot 
Italy  might  be  in  the  near  future,  was  meeting  her  advanoes 
in  a  way  that  could  not  but  excite  Austrian  jealousy. 

And  then  there  was  beside,  the  irrepressible  though  at 
present  repressed  contest  for  supremacy  in  Germany,  — a 
contest  which  inevitably  went  on  in  spite  of  outward  friend- 
liness. There  was  nothing  durable  in  the  arrangement 
made  at  the  meeting  of  King  William  with  the  Anstrias 
emperor.  Perhaps  Bismarck,  who  was  the  master  spirit  in 
all  the  affair,  did  not  mean  that  there  should  be. 

On  the  30th  of  January,  1866,  he  sent  a  note  to  AasMOr 
protesting  against  the  freedom  of  discassion  which  was 
allowed  in  Holstein,  the  discussion  complained  of  being  aU 
against  Prussia. 

Soon  after  <i  second  note  was  sent.  This  spcke  of  "  (iw 
happy  days  of  Gastein,"  but  mourned  that  affaus  were  noir 


542  THE     HOUSE      OF     AUSTRIA. 

assuming  a  very  serious  aspect ;  that  the  bearing  of  the  go^-v 
ernmeut  of  Holsteiu  must  be  regarded  as  directly  aggressive. 
It  said  that  Prussia  had  a  right  to  request  Austria  to  main- 
tain Holsteiu  in  statu  quo,  as  Prussia  felt  bound  to  do  in 
regard  to  Schleswig.  Austria  was  required  to  ponder  and 
negotiate,  and  the  note  closed  with  a  threat.  It  stated,  th&t 
if  a  negative  or  evasive  answer  shoulS  be  returned,  painful  aa 
that  would  be,  Prussia  would  be  forced  to  believe  Austria  no 
longer  friendly.  If  it  should  be  impossible  for  her  to  act  in 
concert  with  Austria,  Prussia  must  contract  closer  alliances 
in  other  directions  for  the  advancement  of  her  own  immediate 
interests. 

This  was  supposed  to  refer  to  an  alliance  with  Italy,  Aus- 
tria's mortal  enemy.  The  note  itself  was  considered  almost 
a  declaration  of  war.  Austria  did  return  a  negative  and 
evasive  answer.  The  crisis  was  fast  developing.  A  council 
of  war  was  held  at  Vienna.  As  to  Italy,  detested  as  she  was 
by  the  Austrians,  war  would  be  welcomed  with  her.  If  the 
war  gave  Italy  a  chance  of  gaining  Venetia,  it  also  might  give 
Austria  a  chance  to  recover  what  she  had  lost  by  the  battles 
of  Magenta  and  Solferino.  As  to  Prussia,  it  was  thought 
that  her  army  was  neither  large  nor  in  good  condition.  It 
was  thought  that  the  German  Confederation  might  be  induced 
to  demand  decisive  action  on  the  Schleswig-Holstein  affair. 
If,  in  response  to  this  demand,  Prussia  yielded,  her  prestige 
would  be  destroyed.  If  she  did  not  yield,  she  would  have  all 
the  diet  against  her  ;  and  a  decree  of  federal  execution  might 
be  obtained  against  Prussia,  and  then  she  might  be  crushed 
with  all  the  combined  forces  of  the  Confederation. 

After  the  council  of  war,  Austria  began  secretly  to  make 
preparations.  The  fortresses,  especially  Cracow,  were 
gtrengthened :  the  troops  in  Bohemia,  which  lies  near  Prus- 
sia, were  re-enforced. 

The  attention  of  Prussia  was  excited,  and  she  began  to  ask 
the  meaning  of  all  these  warlike  preparations.     Austrfia  re« 


THi     NEW     CONSTITUTION,      ETC.  543 

pJied  that  the  populace  in  Bohemia  bad  broken  out  in  riots 
{gainst  the  Jews. 

But  the  Jews  of  Bohemia  almost  all  lived  in  Prague  ;  and 
the  Austrian  anxiety  for  their  welfare  was  bringing  troops, 
as  it  seemed  to  Prussia,  suspiciously  near  her  frontier.  Slowly 
and  cautiously  the  Austrian  army  was  mobilized.  That  is, 
ihe  battalions  were  raised  to  their  full  strength,  and  supplied 
<^ith  the  transportation  and  other  material  necessary  for  a 
campaign.  Steps  were  taken  to  strengthen  the  fortresses  in 
Italy.  Military  preparations  were  also  made  secretly  in 
Saxony  and  Wurtemberg. 

But  this  activity  of  preparation  for  war  could  not  escape 
the  observation  of  the  Prussian  Government.  Prussia  was  not 
so  weak  or  so  unprepared  as  she  was  supposed  to  be.  She 
had  really  been  leading  her  rival  on  toward  the  conflict.  Bis- 
marck had  outwitted  the  Austrian  statesmen  throughout  the 
whole  affair.  He  now  began  to  show  his  purpose  boldly.  A 
decree  was  issued  in  the  king's  name,  which  declared  tiiat  the 
authors  of  any  attempt  to  subvert  his  authority  or  that  of 
the  Emperor  of  Austria  in  the  duchies  would  be  imprisoned. 
The  Austrian  ambassador  protested.  The  reception  of  bis 
protest  was  such  that  Austria  told  the  States  of  the  Confed- 
eration to  arm  themselves. 

Then  Bismarck  declared,  that,  on  account  of  the  armaments 
of  Austria,  Prussia  was  at  last  compelled  to  take  measures 
for  the  protection  of  Silesia,  which  lay  near  the  Austrian 
frontier ;  and,  moreover,  that  Prussia  must  seek  guaranties 
for  the  future. 

This  forced  from  the  other  German  States  a  declaration  of 
their  policy.  They  wanted  to  go  to  war  for  neither  of  the 
antagonists,  but  to  refer  the  whole  matter  to  the  diet.  But 
the  days  of  the  diet  were  numbered.  Underneath  and  far 
more  important  than  the  question  as  to  whether  Prussia  or 
Austria  should  get  their  way  in  Schleswig-Holstein,  the  real 
question  now  before  Germany  was.  Shall  the  cid  Confedera- 


644  THE      HOUSE      OF      AUSTRIA. 

tlon  be  superseded  by  a  new  Germany  united  under  the  lead 
ership  of  Prussia?  That  could  be  decided  only  by  war,  and 
the  time  for  decision  had  come. 

Prussia  now  began  openly  to  put  her  army  on  a  war-foot- 
ing. The  battalions  which  garrisoned  the  places  nearest  the 
Austrian  frontier  were  increased,  but  not  yet  raised  to  the 
full  war  standard.  The  field  artillery  was  made  completely 
ready.  The  fortresses  were  garrisoned  and  provisioned. 
Confident  in  the  rapidity  with  which  the  whole  of  her  forces 
could  be  mobilized  under  the  new  system,  which  had  been  for 
a  long  time  silently  perfected,  Prussia  delayed  until  the  last 
moment  calling  her  men  away  from  their  workshops  and 
farms. 

Now  the  two  great  rivals  stood  face  to  face.  Before  they 
came  to  blows  they  argued  with  each  other,  as  nations,  no 
less  than  individual  men,  who  are  quarreling,  often  do.  An 
English  writer  puts  the  debate  in  this  way  : — 

Austria.  "You  must  disarm.  I  really  don't  mean  any 
thing  by  the  troops  in  Bohemia." 

Prussia.  "  Yes,  you  do.     When  you  disarm,  I  will." 

Austria.  "Well,  then,  I  will  withdraw  from  Bohemia; 
but  I  must  take  measures  for  the  defense  of  Venetia  against 
Italy." 

But  the  Prussians  say,  "This  is  just  as  much  a  threat 
against  us  as  the  troops  in  Bohemia.  When  Italy  is  crushed, 
then  your  whole  force  can  be  turned  against  us." 

But  an  Austrian  army  was  got  ready  against  Italy ;  and 
then  Prussia  took  her  new  ally  under  her  protection,  and 
demanded,  not  only  disarmament  in  Bohemia,  but  also  in 
Venetia. 

Austria  answered  by  increasing  her  army  still  more,  and 
then  proposed  once  more  to  submit  the  whole  question  about 
Schleswig-Holstein  to  the  diet.  Prussia  would  have  no  more 
of  the  diet.  She  began  to  mobilize  her  army ;  and,  at  the 
end  of  fourteer  days,  four  hundred  and  ninety  thousand  men 


THE      NEW     CONSTITUTION,      ETC.  548 

Stood  on  parade,  armed,  clothed,  equipped,  provided  with 
transportation  trains,  provisions,  ammunition,  and  field  hos- 
pitals. 

It  is  doubtful  whether  a  great  army  has  ever  been  put  in 
the  field  with  such  marvelous  rapidity.  The  new  Prussian 
system  was  uow  for  the  first  time  displayed  in  its  full  practi- 
cal power.  And  along  with  this  system,  by  which  all  the 
able-bodied  men  of  the  nation  had  been  made  efficient  and 
well- trained  soldiers,  ready  to  be  called  into  the  ranks  at  a 
few  days'  notice,  a  new  weapon  was  now  to  be  brought  into 
use,  which  was  destined  to  revolutionize  warfare. 

Breech-loading  rifles  had  been  tried  before  on  a  limited 
scale  ;  but,  though  they  had  been  found  far  more  deadly  than 
other  arms,  they  were  considered  too  complicated  for  the  use 
of  ordinary  soldiers. 

But  a  breech-loading  weaix)n  invented  by  a  humble  me- 
chanic had  been  adopted  by  the  Prussian  Government.  It 
was  called  the  "needle-gun,"  from  the  peculiar  mechanism 
Dsed  to  explode  the  cartridge.  A  large  portion  of  the  Prus- 
sian troops  were  armed  with  this  now  historic  needle-gun, 
with  what  result  we  shall  see. 

The  war  may  be  said  to  have  begun  on  June  16.  1866, 
when  the  Prussians  entered  Saxony,  which  sided  with  Austria, 
and  marched  upon  Dresden,  its  capital.  A  strong  force  also 
occupied  Hanover  and  Hesse-Cassel,  thus  protecting  the 
Prussian  rear.  The  Saxon  army  retired  as  the  Prussians 
approached,  and  marched  to  join  the  Austrians.  The  Prus- 
sians then  occupied  Dresden,  and  thus  secured  in  Saxony 
a  good  basis  for  offensive  operations. 

The  Prussians  were  divided  into  three  armies.  The  first 
was  under  command  of  Prince  Frederick  Charles,  who  after- 
ward became  popularly  known  among  the  soldiers  as  "Our 
Fritz."  The  second  was  commanded  by  the  Crown  Prince  ; 
and  the  third,  or  "army  of  the  Elbe."  by  Gen.  Herwarth. 
Id  all,  they  had  about  two  hundred  and  twenty-five  thou- 


{{46  T 11  i:      H  O  IT  S  F,      Oh      AUSTRIA. 

sand  men  io  the  fields  with  seven  hundred  and  seventy- foal 
cannon. 

The  Austrian  force  was  composed  of  two  armies.  One 
under  Count  Clam  Gallas,  the  other  and  largest  under  Gen. 
Benedek.  In  all,  they  numbered  over  two  hundred  and 
sixty  thousand  men,  with  seven  hundred  and  sixteen  cannon. 

The  Prussians  now  marched  through  the  mountain-defiles 
into  Bohemia.  To  their  surprise,  and  that  of  every  one  else, 
they  passed  these  easily  defended  defiles  without  opposition. 
The  reputation  of  Gen.  Benedek  was  so  great,  that  every 
one  suspected  some  deep-laid  plan  by  which  the  Prussiana 
were  to  be  enticed  into  the  heart  of  the  enemy's  country  and 
overwhelmed.  But  no  plan  at  all  seems  to  have  been  formed. 
With  all  her  long  pre^iaration,  the  crisis  found  her  unready, 
her  army  ill-organized,  poorly  equipped  and  provisioned. 
Benedek  had  announced  to  the  soldiers,  that  he  was  going 
"to  lead  the  brave  and  faithful  Austrian  army  against  the 
unjust  and  wanton  foes  of  the  empire."  But,  instead,  the 
Prussian  army  was  being  led  against  him.  It  was  from 
the  start,  and  all  the  way  through,  a  defensive  war  on  the  part 
of  Austria.  Though  brave  enough,  the  Austrians  lacked 
the  spirit  which  animated  the  Prussians. 

The  Austrians  expected  the  attack  to  come  from  behind 
the  mountains  of  Eastern  Bohemia,  and  had  massed  their 
largest  army  there.  And  so,  when  the  advance  of  Frederick 
Karl's  army  crossed  the  Erzgebirge,  it  was  opposed  only  by 
the  outlying  brigades  of  Clam  Gallas.  There  were  several 
unimportant  engagements,  and  then  a  severe  fight  at  Podol, 
which  cost  the  Austrians  a  loss  of  twenty-four  hundred  men, 
while  the  Prussians  lost  only  one  hundred  and  twenty-four. 

Two  of  the  Prussian  armies  now  advanced  leisurely,  driv- 
ing the  enemy  before  them  toward  Munchengratz,  where 
Clam  Gallas  was  intrenched.  On  the  28th  of  June  he  was 
attacked  ;  and,  after  a  short  but  sharp  fight,  he  was  forcecl  to 
retreat  in  haste. 


THE     NEW     COVSTirUTION,      ETC.  547 

The  Prussian  armies  continued  to  advance  by  several 
routes.  They  took  Gitschin  after  a  severe  battle,  in  which 
they  lost  two  thousand  men,  and  the  Austrians  twice  as  many, 
and  encamped  the  next  morning  near  Horzitz,  having  estab- 
lished communication  with  the  forces  of  the  Crown  Prince  : 
while  Clam  Gallas  retired  to  join  the  main  army  under  Ben- 
edek.  He  had  proved  himself  a  skillful  commander.  For 
with  only  half  as  many  men  as  the  Prussians,  and  less  than 
half  as  many  guns,  he  had  compelled  his  enemies  to  spend 
six  days  in  advancing  forty  miles. 

Meanwhile  the  third  Prussian  army  had  crossed  the  defiles 
with  but  little  trouble.  Gen.  Steinmetz  alone  met  with  op- 
position, and  was  once  driven  back  into  the  pass.  But  he 
persevered,  and  by  six-houi-s'  fighting  he  got  through  with  a 
loss  of  nearly  two  thousand  men.  The  Austrians  lost  six 
thousand.  On  the  28th  he  had  another  battle  at  Skalitz. 
He  was  again  successful,  causing  a  loss  to  the  Austrians  of 
over  eleven  thousand.  The  Prussian  right  wing  also  had 
a  hard  fight  in  coming  through  the  mountains.  After  com- 
ing through  one  of  these  defiles,  they  were  driven  back.  The 
Austrian  general,  Gablentz,  obtained  re-enforcements ;  and 
a  corps  of  the  Prussian  guards  was  sent  to  re-enforce  the 
right  wing  and  attack  Gablentz.  There  was  a  series  of 
battles ;  and  the  Austrians  were  again  defeated  with  a  loss 
of  four  thousand,  while  the  Prussians  lost  only  eight  hundred 
and  thirty- four. 

The  great  preponderance  of  Austrian  loss  in  these  battles 
was  owing,  not  only  to  the  superior  fighting  qualities  of  the 
Prussian  army,  but  also  to  the  fact  that  the  needle-gun 
vastly  increased  the  effectiveness  of  each  Prussian  soldier. 

The  deadly  power  of  breech-loading  arms  was  being  con- 
clusively proved.^ 

The  three  Prussian  armies  were  now  all  in  Bohemia,  and 

1  It  is  said,  that,  in  one  of  the  first  of  these  engagements,  "  an  entire  battalion  of 
Asatrians  was  struck  down  almost  to  a  man." 


548  THE     HOUSE     OF     AUSTRIA. 

moving  steadily  forward  in  lines  converging  toward  a  poicf 
north  of  the  Austrian  army,  which  was  now  concentrated 
between  Josephstadt  and  Koniggriitz. 

The  two  armies  were  now  face  to  face,  and  the  decisive 
battle  of  the  war  was  to  be  fought. 

On  the  Ist  of  July  the  King  of  Prussia  arrived  at  the  head- 
quarters of  the  army.  He  had  heard  that  Gen.  Benedek 
intended  to  attack  the  Prussians  before  the  Crown  Prince 
and  the  army  under  his  command  could  come  up.  The 
Crown  Prince  was  approaching,  but  he  was  still  fifteen  miles 
away.  King  William  resolved  not  to  wait,  either  for  his 
arrival  or  for  Benedek' s  onset,  but  to  attack  at  once,  and 
thus  anticipate  his  enemies. 

A  message  was  sent  to  the  Crown  Prince,  ordering  him  to 
hasten  his  advance ;  and  on  July  3,  at  eight  o'clock  in  the 
morning,  the  Prussians  began  to  move  upon  the  Austrian 
position.  They  would  have  been  less  hasty,  it  may  be,  had 
they  known  the  true  state  of  affairs.  They  supposed  they 
had  only  part  of  the  Austrian  army  before  them.  They  were 
soon  undeceived. 

At  the  foot  of  the  slope,  on  the  crest  of  which  was  the 
Austrian  position,  were  several  villages,  occupied  by  outposts. 
The  Prussians  carried  these  easily  enough,  and  advanced  up 
the  slope.  But  now  they  were  met  by  a  withering  fire  from 
their  enemy's  artillery.  Their  progress  was  checked.  They 
could  not  advance  in  the  face  of  the  storm  of  shot  and  shell 
which  burst  upon  them.  They  were  compelled  to  halt.  Ben- 
edek, seeing  the  Prussians  hesitate,  now  hurled  his  reserves 
gainst  their  left  wing,  intending  to  cut  it  off,  and  crush  it 
before  the  Crown  Prince  could  have  time  to  come  iip  to  its 
help.  But  the  Prussians  stood  their  ground  with  true  Geiv 
man  stubbornness.  All  efforts  to  drive  them  from  their  porf 
tion  were  in  vain ;  though  at  times  the  left  wing  wavered, 
and  seemed  on  the  point  of  giving  way  before  the  overwhelm 
ins  weight  of  the  Austrian  assault.     Thus  the  battle  con- 


THE     NEW     CONSTITUTION,      ETC.  549 

tdnuod,  the  artillery  on  both  sides  keeping  up  an  incessant 
and  tremendous  fire,  until,  as  <he  day  wore  on,  the  Austrian 
right  showed  signs  of  wavering.  It  was  evident  that  help 
was  coining  to  the  sorely  pressed  Prussians. 

The  advauce  of  the  army  of  the  Crown  Prince  was  attack- 
ing the  flank  of  the  Austrian  right  wing.  The  Prussians 
began  to  cheer.  The  unseen  assailant  of  the  Austrians  was 
evidently  becoming  more  and  more  formidable  every  minute. 
The  Crown  Prince  had  come.  The  Austrian  right  wing  was 
giving  way.  It  was  being  rolled  up  and  crushed.  The  Prus- 
sians advanced,  and,  by  partially  enclosing  the  Austrians 
between  two  fires,  threw  them  into  confusion.  The  battle  was 
decided.  The  Austrians  were  hopelessly  and  terribly  de- 
feated. Their  army  was  speedily  broken  up,  and  the  soldiers 
fled  in  confusion.  Many  perished  in  the  waters  of  the  Elbe, 
or  were  crushed  under  the  wheels  of  the  fleeing  baggage- 
wagons.  All  that  saved  the  Austrians  from  the  extremest 
horrors  and  miseries  of  such  a  terrible  defeat,  was  their 
splendid  cavalry,  which  with  undaunted  courage  stood  be- 
tween the  flying  host  and  their  foes,  —  that,  and  tlie  further 
fact,  that  the  Prussians  were  deficient  in  cavalry. 

This  great  battle  is  sometimes  called  Koniggratz,  but  more 
commonly  Sadowa,  from  the  small  town  of  that  name  near 
the  battle-field.  The  Prussian  loss  was  9,000  men,  killed  and 
wounded.  The  Austrians  lost  16,235  killed  and  wounded, 
and  22,684  prisoners. 

They  asked  for  a  truce.  It  was  refused  ;  and  the  Prussians 
pushed  forward  for  Vienna,  whither  Benedek  had  withdrawn 
the  shattered  remnant  of  his  army.  At  the  same  time  the 
Southern  army,  which  had  been  employed  against  Italy,  was 
brought  to  the  capital.  Every  thing  was  done  to  strengthen 
the  fortifications  of  the  city  ;  and  preparations  were  made  for 
a  last  desperate  stand,  when  the  Emperor  of  the  French  in- 
tervened, and  proposed  a  truce.  This  was  accepted,  and  wa« 
Boon  followed  by  a  ti-eaty  of  peace. 


350  THE     HOUSE     OP     AUSTRIA. 

Italy,  the  ally  of  Prussia  in  this  war,  though  entering  ac- 
tively into  the  strife,  did  not  greatly  distinguish  herself. 
She  entered  into  the  war  with  the  enthusiasm  which  became 
her  revived  nationality,  and  with  heroic  detei-mination  to  free 
Venetia  from  the  hated  Austrian  yoke. 

An  army  of  two  hundred  thousand  men  was  raised.  Half 
of  this  number,  under  Gen.  Delia  Marmora,  were  to  cross 
the  Mincio  between  Peschiera  and  Mantua.  The  other  half 
were  stationed  around  Bologna  to  operate  on  the  lower  Po. 

The  Austrian  Archduke  Albert  opposed  this  force.  He 
had  ninety  thousand  men,  beside  the  garrisons  of  the  great 
fortresses  which  compose  what  is  called  "  the  Quadrilateral," 
and  that  of  Venetia,  which  were  not  available  for  active 
service. 

La  Marmora  crossed  the  Po  with  his  army.  He  proceeded 
on  his  march  in  a  careless  manner.  The  Archduke  Albert 
watched  him  closely;  and,  when  the  Italian  army  became 
entangled  between  the  river  and  the  hills,  the  Austrians 
attacked  them  in  full  force. 

The  Italian  left  wing  was  broken,  and  would  have  been 
destroyed  had  not  another  division  crossed  the  river,  and, 
coming  to  their  assistance,  held  the  enemy  at  bay  for  the 
remainder  of  the  day. 

The  Austrian  attack  on  the  Italian  right  was  at  first  ansuo- 
cessful.  In  the  center  were  the  villages  of  Custoza  and 
Monte  Belvidere.  These  were  the  keys  to  the  Italian  posi- 
tion. There  was  an  obstinate  struggle  on  both  sides  for  the 
possession  of  these  villages  ;  but  toward  the  close  of  the  day 
the  Austrians  gained  them,  and  victory  was  decided  in  their 
favor.  The  Italians  fell  back  in  fair  order  toward  the  Min- 
cio, and  were  soon  re-assembled  on  the  right  bank  of  the 
river.  The  loss  to  each  side  in  this  battle  was  about  eight 
thousand. 

The  Italian  generals  now  spent  more  than  a  week  in  dis- 
cussing another  plan  for  a  campaign,  since  this  first  one  had 


THE     NEW     CONSTITUTION,      ETC.  651 

failed.     In  the  mean  time  the  news  of  Sadowa  came,  and  witb 

it  the  news  that  Austria  had  ceded  Venetia  to  the  French  Em 
peror,  Napoleon  III.  Although  it  was  well  understood  that 
this  was  done  simply  to  save  Austria  the  humiliation  of  giv 
ing  up  Venetia  directly  to  Italy,  and  that  the  French  emperor 
«rould  surely  hand  that  much-desired  province  over,  the 
Italians  refused  to  make  a  separate  treaty  with  Austria. 
They  remained  true  to  their  ally,  Prussia,  and  continued  to 
prosecute  the  war  vigorously.  Gen.  Garibaldi,  with  his 
volunteers,  and  Gen.  Medeci,  with  a  division  of  the  Italian 
army,  advanced  into  the  Trentino,  diiving  before  them  the 
small  body  of  Austrians  which  had  been  left  after  the  Arch- 
duke's army  had  been  withdrawn  from  Italy  to  assist  in  the 
defense  of  Vienna.  The  Italians  also  made  vigorous  war  by 
sea.  In  this,  however,  they  were  not  very  successful ;  the 
Austrian  admiral,  with  his  small  fleet,  proving  more  than  a 
match  for  them,  in  spite  of  their  great  ironclads.  At  last 
Italy  was  content  to  sign  an  armistice.  Shelaid  claim  to  the 
Trentino,  but  it  was  thought  that  she  was  sufficiently  rewarded 
and  Austria  sufficiently  punished  by  the  cession  of  Venetia 
to  a  now  really  united  Italy. 

By  the  treaty  of  Prague  (Aug.  23,  1866)  which  now  fol- 
lowed, Austria  was  completely  bereft  of  her  ancient  place  in 
Germany.  The  old  Confederation  was  dissolved ;  and  a  new 
Germany,  with  Prussia  at  its  head,  appeared. 

Austria  was  entirely  excluded  from  participation  in  this 
new  Germany,  and  had  to  consent  formally  to  the  surrender 
of  Venetia  to  Italy,  and  to  pay  beside  a  war  indemnity  of 
forty  million  thalers,  the  Prussian  troops  to  remain  on  hex 
tenitory  until  it  was  paid. 

It  was  bitter  humiliation  to  Austria,  but  the  peace  par- 
chased  at  such  a  heavy  cost  has  brought  its  blessings.  As 
soon  as  it  was  concluded,  the  emperor  turned  his  attenti(» 
to  home  affairs.  We  have  seen  how,  when  constitutional 
reforms  were  introduced  into  the  Austrian  empire  before  the 

X 


552  THE     HOUSE      OF     AUSTRIA. 

war  with  Prussia,  Hungary  was  dissatisfied.  She  insisted  ou 
her  right  to  self-government,  and  refused  to  be  put  off  with 
any  thing  else.  There  was  no  insurreetwsn  or  revolution  in 
Hungary  this  time.  It  was  a  piixily  passive  resistance  that 
was  now  offered.  The  Hungarians  refused  to  pay  taxes  :  and 
Austria,  always  in  financial  straits,  was,  in  consequence  of 
the  war,  sorely  pressed  for  money  ;  and  this  sort  of  resistance 
on  the  part  of  Hungary  was  very  effective. 

On  Dec.  14,  1865,  the  emperor  opened  the  Hungarian 
Diet  in  person  at  Pesth.  He  then  declared,  that,  so  far  as 
it  did  not  affect  the  unity  of  the  empire  and  the  position  of 
Austria  as  a  European  power,  he  was  willing  to  grant  what 
they  demanded,  and  recognize  their  right  to  self-government. 

In  November,  1866,  after  the  peace  had  been  concluded, 
an  imperial  rescript,  signed  by  the  emperor,  was  published, 
in  which  he  promised,  by  the  appointment  of  a  responsible 
ministry  and  the  restoration  of  municipal  self-government,  to 
do  justice  to  the  constitutional  demands  of  Hungary. 

Not  only  was  the  cause  of  German  unity  advanced  by  the 
humbling  of  Austria,  but  the  renovation  of  the  Austrian  em- 
pire itself  and  the  long-delayed  liberation  of  Hungary  was 
promoted  by  it.  Austria,  having  ceased  to  be  a  great  German 
power,  was  compelled  to  cherish  the  other  nationalities  com- 
mitted to  her  care.  Of  these  Hungary  was  the  most  impor- 
tant :  and  she  was  now  to  assume  the  place  which  rightfully 
IjeloDged  to  her,  —  the  leading  place  in  the  membership  of 
States  which  compose  the  Austrian  empire. 

The  progress  of  Austria  in  liberal  government  has  been 
rapid  since  the  war  with  Prussia. 

In  1866  Baron  Beust,  a  Saxon,  and  therefore  a  foreigner 
in  Austria,  and  a  Protestant,  became  the  minister  of  foreign 
affairs.  Afterward  he  was  made  prime  minister  and  chancel 
lor  of  the  empire. 

In  1867  the  Reichsrath  assembled  at  Vienna  to  deliberate 
on   amendments  to  the  Hungarian  Constitution,  on  the  re- 


THE      NEW      CONSTITUTION,      ETC.  55S 

spoDsibility  of  the  imperial  ministers  to  the  Keichsrath,  on 
the  extension  of  constitutional  self-government  in  the  differ- 
ent provinces,  on  the  re-organization  of  the  army,  on  the 
impi'ovement  of  the  administration  of  justice,  and  the  pro- 
motion of  the  economical  interests  of  the  country. 

In  his  speech  at  the  opening  of  this  meeting  of  the  Reichs- 
rath,  the  emperor  said,  "  To-day  we  are  about  to  establish 
a  work  of  peace  and  concord.  Let  us  throw  a  veil  of  forget- 
fulness  over  the  immediate  past,  which  has  inflicted  sucli 
deep  wounds  upon  the  empire.  Let  us  lay  to  heart  the  les- 
sons which  it  leaves  behind  ;  but  let  us  derive  with  unshaken 
courage  new  strength,  and  the  resolve  to  seek  the  peace  and 
prosperity  of  the  empire." 

On  the  8th  of  June,  1867,  the  Emperor  and  Empress  of 
Austria  were  crowned  King  and  Queeu  of  Hungary  at  Pesth. 

On  the  30th  of  July,  1870,  the  concordat  with  Rome,  which 
had  long  been  an  incubus  upon  Austria,  was  suspended,  on 
account  of  the  proclamation  of  the  infallibility  of  the  pope. 
One  beneficent  result  of  this  action  was,  the  bringing  about 
of  a  better  state  of  feeling  between  Austria  and  Italy.  A 
sympathy  which  had  hitherto  been  wanting  arose  between 
these  two  countries.  In  the  great  war  of  1870,  between 
France  and  Prossia,  Austria  took  no  part.  Nothing  could 
more  plainly  show  how  entirely  her  connection  with  Germany 
had  been  severed  ;  and  nothing  could  better  prove  how  utterly 
her  hope  of  regaining  her  position  in  Grermany  had  gone  out, 
than  the  fact  that  she  remained  a  silent  spectator  of  thia 
great  struggle,  one  result  of  which  was,  to  consolidate  Prus- 
sian power  in  Germany  more  firmly  than  ever.  It  was  far  bet- 
ter for  Austria  that  she  should  remain  at  peace,  and  exert  her 
strength  in  the  task  so  new  to  her  of  perfecting  the  institu- 
tions of  a  constitutional  state.  To  this  task  she  applied 
herself. 

In  1873  a  reform  bill  was  passed,  taking  the  election  of 
members  of  the  Reichsrath  out  of  the  hanfls  of  the  provincial 


564  THE      HOUSE      OF     AUSTRIA. 

diets,  and  transferring  it  to  the  body  of  electors  in  the  several 
provinces.     Almost  every  householder  now  has  the  right  to 

vote. 

In  the  autumn  of  1873  an  international  exhibition  of  the 
world's  industry,  similar  to  those  which  had  taken  place  at 
London  and  Paris,  and  afterward  in  our  own  country,  was 
held  at  Vienna.  It  attracted  visitors  from  all  parts  of  the 
world. 

In  1874  a  bill  for  the  abolition  of  the  concordat  with  the 
pope  was  introduced  by  the  government,  and  measures  were 
taken  for  the  restriction  of  the  power  of  the  Romish  clergy. 
One  by  one  the  fetters  and  the  props  of  despotism  were  fall- 
ing, and  Austria  was  entering  more  and  more  entirely  into  the 
progressive  spirit  of  the  age. 

The  emperor  had  not  always  maintained  his  course  ' '  in 
the  path  of  constitutionalism."  Between  the  years  1865  and 
18G7  he  had  been  inclined  to  swerve  from  it.  But  the  terri- 
ble lessons  of  Sadowa  had  made  him  sadder  and  wiser ;  and 
now,  in  his  speech  at  the  opening  of  the  Reichsrath  on  the 
15th  of  November,  1874,  he  declared,  that,  "by  the  system  of 
direct  popular  elections,  the  empire  has  obtained  real  inde- 
pendence." 

The  treaty  of  Berlin,  which  resulted  from  the  war  between 
Russia  and  Turkey,  placed  the  former  Turkish  provinces  of 
Bosnia  and  Herzegovinia  under  the  administration  of  Austria. 
It  has  proved  a  troublesome  trust.  But  it  has  extended 
Austriac  territory  and  influence  in  the  direction  of  her  now 
manifest  destiny.  Practically  these  provinces  have  been 
Incorporated  into  the  Austrian  empire.  The  acquisition  has 
increased  her  strength  in  Eastern  Europe.  "Austria,  as  a 
constitutional  state,  no  longer  enfeebled  by  the  just  discon- 
tent of  the  multitudinous  races  which  she  governs,  enjoys 
abundantly  the  elements  out  of  which  a  prosperous  career 
may  be  fashioned." 


CHAPTER   XXXIV. 

HISTORY  OF  AUSTRIA-HUNGAEY  SINCE  ISTO. 

^BTSROGBNEITT    OP    POPCLATION.— ExTEBNAI.    AKD    InTBBNAI.     PbOQRBSS.— ThB 

Triple  Alliance.  —  Fears  of  a  Russian  War.  —  Imwiovements  in  thb 
Army.— Rkpoums  in  CtTRREWor  and  in  the  Fbasohisb.— Thb  Orm.  Mab- 
BiAOE  Bill.— Language  and  Race  Antagonisji.— Anti-Semitism.— Death 
OF  THE  Crown  Prince:  of  Kossuth.— The  Millennial  Exposition  in 
Hungary— Assassination  of  thb  Bhpress  Elizabeth.— Thb  Future 
OF   Austria-Hungary. 

THE  liistory  of  Austria-Hungary  since  the  treaty 
of  Berlin  in  1878  has  been,  on  the  one  hand,  one 
of  internal  improvements,  both  material  and  constitu- 
tional, making  for  a  higher  order  of  civilization  and 
adjustment  of  relations  with  foreign  nations.  This 
has  been  accomplished,  on  the  other  hand,  not  with- 
out much  party  strife,  and  friction  between  the  sev- 
eral nationalities  which  the  monarchy  now  embraces. 
This  national  emulation  is  the  more  to  be  expected 
when  we  consider  the  differences  of  customs,  religion, 
and  particularly  of  language,  which  exist  within  the 
ijomparatively  small  region  covered  by  the  Austria- 
Hungarian  dommion.  Not  only  Germans  and  Hun- 
garians, but  several  Slavonic  nationalities,  such  as 
Czechs  and  Poles,  are  represented  within  its  borders 
to-day.  In  the  imperial  army  eleven  languages  are 
spoken;  and  the  strong  religious  antagonism  which 
often  breaks  forth  into  violent  expression  between 
Catholics  and  Jews  goes  also  to  make  the  internal 


656  THE     HOUSE    OF     AUSTRIA. 

life  of  the  nation  at  times  very  turbulent.  A  great 
part,  however,  of  the  political  perturbation  arises  from 
the  jealousy  with  which  those  speaking  one  language 
regard  the  political  favors  bestowed  upon,  or  successes 
gained  by,  those  speaking  a  different  language. 

It  is  to  be  noticed  too  that  the  parts  out  of  which 
Austria-Hungary  are  formed  are  less  homogeneous, 
politically,  than  those  of  any  other  European  nation, 
and  that  consequently  it  has  required  much  shrewd 
diplomacy  on  the  part  of  the  country  and  her  advisers 
to  refrain  from  falling  into  the  horrors  of  a  war  with 
other  nations,  and  thus,  possibly,  embroiling  the  whole 
of  Europe. 

An  example  of  the  heterogeneity  just  referred  to  is 
the  peculiar  relations  of  Austria  to  Bosnia  and  Herze- 
govina, whose  fate  was  narrated  in  the  last  chapter. 
The  Congress  of  Berhn  ceded  these  two  small  coun- 
tries to  Austria,  to  be  administered  and  occupied, 
while,  strictly  speaking,  the  title  of  them  remained 
with,  and  to  this  day  belongs  to,  Turkey,  of  which 
they  are  a  province.  Add  to  this  that  when  occupied 
a  dispute  arose  immediately  between  Austria  and  Hun- 
gary as  to  which  of  them  should  have  the  privileges 
which  this  occupation  implied.  This  difference  be- 
tween the  two  parts  of  the  Austria-Hungarian  mon- 
archy was  settled  only  by  agreeing  that  both  should 
have  the  two  new  countries,  and  that  the  common 
imperial  government  should  administer  them. 

Perhaps  a  still  better  example  of  the  national  heter- 
ogeneity is  the  great  number  of  national  and  poUtical 
parties  in  the  houses  of  parliament.  It  will  suffice  to 
mention  two  of  them.  The  German  party  of  the  Aus 
trian  lower  house  is  anxious  to  return  to  the  state  of 
affairs  which  existed  from  1806  i^  1866 ;  in  other  words, 
they  desire  to  be  united  in  some  manner  to  Germany. 
This  party  represents  the  Germans,  numerous  in  Bo- 


AUSTRIA-HUNOARY     SINCE     1878.  557 

hernia,  Moravia,  Styria,  Lower  Austria,  Silesia,  and 
some  in  the  Alps.  On  the  other  hand,  Poles  and  Ru- 
thenians  wish  to  be  united  with  Russia. 

The  progress  made  in  the  administration  of  the  coun- 
try since  1878,  during  which  time  she  has  had  no  seri- 
ous wars  and  her  material  and  national  prosperity  has 
ostensibly  increased,  falls  naturally  into  two  divisions. 
1st.  External  progress,  which  will  include  the  improve- 
ment of  relations  with  foreign  powers  already  referred 
to.  2d.  Internal  progress.  To  these  will  be  added  a 
short  account  of  the  party  strife,  in  spite  of  which  the 
monarchy  has  grown  to  be  one  of  the  great  powers 
of  Europe.  Party  strife  is  common  enough  in  most 
nations,  but  has  been  more  markedly  spectacular  in 
Austria-Hungary  than  in  most  of  the  other  nations. 

The  most  significant  advance  made  in  the  direction 
of  external  progress  by  Austria-Hungary  was  when 
in  1879  she  signed  a  defensive  treaty  of  alliance  with 
Germany.  This  was,  on  Germany's  part,  a  far-seeing 
policy  of  the  late  Prince  Bismarck.  It  resulted  in  added 
strength  both  to  Germany  and  Austria,  and  the  latter 
was  once  and  for  all  excluded  from  all  purely  German 
affairs.  Both  countries  were  thus  a  further  protection 
to  the  peace  of  Europe,  in  that  they  constituted  a  for- 
midable enemy  with  which,  in  case  of  any  war,  Russia 
would  have  to  cope.  This  was  an  important  gain  in 
the  European  politics  of  the  time,  for  Russia  had  been 
making  great  strides  in  the  direction  of  Constantinople. 
This  alliance  between  Austria-Hungary  and  Germany 
tended  to  hold  Russia  back. 

The  alliance,  still  further  strengthened  in  the  autumn 
of  1881  by  Italy's  joining,  thus  forming  the  so-called 
Dreibund  or  Triple  Alliance,  gave  to  Austria-Hungary 
a  still  more  powerful  voice  in  the  concert  of  European 
powers. 

The  subsequent  history  of  the  country  is  marked  only 


658  THE    HOUSE    OF    AUSTRIA- 

by  the  occasional  disturbances  in  peaceful  tranquillity 
caused  by  revolution  and  disorder  in  the  smaller  Balkan 
states — Servia,  Roumania  and  Bulgaria. 

A  difference  arose  in  1883  between  Austria  and  Rou- 
mania over  the  latter's  refusal  to  accept  the  decisions 
of  a  conference  which  had  met  in  London  in  February, 
and  at  which  the  representative  of  Austria  had  made 
concessions  in  the  favor  of  Roumania.  This  disaffec- 
tion, on  the  part  of  the  smaller  state,  was  patched  up, 
however,  by  a  friendly  visit  of  the  king,  Charles,  to 
the  court  of  Vienna. 

The  year  1884  saw  the  end  of  a  rivalry  with  Russia 
under  the  leadership  of  Count  Kalnoky,  who  had  been 
appointed  three  years  before  to  the  duties  of  Foreign 
Minister  upon  the  death  of  Haymerle.  An  interview 
between  the  emperors  of  Austria,  Germany  and  Russia 
was  brought  about,  at  which  a  more  cordial  entente 
between  them  was  effected  by  the  efforts  of  the  foreign 
ministers.  This  marked  the  highest  point  of  success 
in  foreign  relations  since  1866;  for  it  Austria  had  to 
thank  a  line  of  notable  foreign  ministers.  Counts 
Beust  and  Andrassy  had  managed  the  felicitous  alli- 
ance with  Germany,  under  Count  Haymerle  Italy  had 
been  added  to  the  alUance,  and  Kalnoky  had  effected 
the  reconciliation  of  Russia.  Austria  was  now  more 
strongly  protected  against  attack  from  foreign  nations 
than  she  had  been  for  several  hundred  years.  Al- 
though not  altogether  approved  by  the  Hungarian 
half  of  the  monarchy,  whose  patriotism  was  some- 
what hurt  by  the  terms  of  the  agreement,  the  under- 
standing with  Russia  was  shown  to  be  in  the  direction 
of  peace  and  not  to  have  any  ulterior  motive ;  and  the 
wholesome  effects  of  the  confidence  in  the  balance  of 
power  in  Europe  which  it  gave  rise  to  was  of  great 
material  advantage  not  only  to  Austria-Hungary,  but 
to  the  small  states  of  the  Balkan  peninsula,  and  in- 


AUSTRIA-HUNGARY     SINCE     1878.  559 

spired  the  latter,  together  with  Turkey,  with  a  wish 
to  maintain  the  best  relations  possible  with  the  dual 
monarchy. 

In  the  following  year  a  temporary  estrangement  took 
place  between  the  peoples  of  Austria  and  Germany, 
though  it  did  not,  of  course,  take  the  shape  of  open 
rupture.  Prince  Bismarck  had  concluded  an  agree- 
ment with  Spain  by  which  the  duties  levied  on  rye 
imported  from  that  country  were  to  be  made  lower 
than  those  on  rye  brought  into  Germany  from  Austria. 
This,  though  not  in  itself  enough  to  cause  any  very 
hard  feeling,  was  only  one  of  a  number  of  changes 
made  in  German  tariffs  which  were  not  pleasing  to 
Austria.  In  addition  to  the  injured  sentiment  regard- 
ing tariffs,  Germany  had  still  further  irritated  Austria 
by  expelling  many  Austria- Hungarian  Poles  who  had 
settled  in  Germany.  This  action,  however,  having 
been  satisfactorily  explained  by  the  German  authori- 
ties, and  measures  having  been  taken  by  the  home  gov- 
ernment to  receive  and  give  temporary  shelter  to  the 
refugees,  the  irritation  was  allayed  and  finally  forgot- 
ten. Promises  on  the  part  of  the  government  to  make 
a  final  customs  arrangement  with  Germany  further 
quieted  the  dissatisfaction  at  this  time. 

The  attention  of  Europe  was  now  turned  in  the 
direction  of  Bulgaria,  where  a  revolution  threatened  to 
terminate  the  balance  begun  by  the  Congress  of  Berlin 
and  to  precipitate  the  powers  into  the  former  state  of 
conflict  which  was  ended  by  that  congress.  The  sym- 
pathies of  Germany  and  Austria  now  tended  to  draw 
them  further  apart,  and,  at  the  same  time,  to  unite 
England  and  Austria.  The  latter,  however,  wisely  re- 
frained from  taking  any  active  part  in  the  eastern 
question,  and  preserved  its  neutrality. 

In  1887  the  amicable  relations  with  Russia  were 
brought  to  a  state  of   great   tension,   resultant   upon 


560  THE     HOUSE     OF     AUSTRIA. 

the  threatening  attitude,  position  and  mobilization  of 
the  Russian  army  upon  the  Austrian  frontier  of  Ga- 
licia.  Measures  were  quickly  taken  to  protect  Galicia, 
which,  on  the  northeastern  boundary  of  Hungary,  was 
particularly  open  to  attack  from  Russia  on  account  of 
its  geographical  nature.  Galicia  is  a  plain  separated 
from  Russian  Poland  on  the  north  partially  by  the 
river  Vistula.  In  addition  to  its  easy  access  from 
Russia,  it  is  further  unfortunate  strategically,  being 
separated  from  Hungary  by  a  great  natural  barrier, 
the  Krapacks  or  Western  Carpathian  Mountains.  The 
threatening  position  occupied  by  large  numbers  of 
the  Russian  army,  which  were  gathering  about  the 
Galician  frontier,  was  the  signal  for  a  display  of 
great  activity  in  the  Austria-Hungarian  army.  By 
extraordinary  work  on  the  part  of  the  gun  factories, 
the  whole  army  was  supplied  with  Mannlicher  rifles, 
and  the  cavalry  and  infantry  were  much  increased  in 
numbers. 

The  following  year  saw  closer  relations  established 
between  Austria  and  Turkey.  This  was  due  merely 
to  material  causes  in  the  shape  of  two  railways,  one 
to  Salonica,  opened  May  18,  and  another  to  Constanti- 
nople, opened  August  11.  This  year,  too,  the  Emperor 
Francis  Joseph  celebrated  the  fortieth  anniversary  of 
his  succession  to  the  throne,  which  he  ascended  Decem- 
ber 3,  1848,  and  was  gratified  to  observe  that  the  inter- 
national atmosphere  of  Europe  was  less  clouded  than 
at  any  time  for  many  years. 

The  continued  peaceful  foreign  relations  in  the  case 
of  Austria  were  and  have  been  undisturbed  to  the  pres- 
ent day,  Austria  having  wisely  refrained  from  doing 
anything  to  subvert  the  pacific  order  of  events.  In  1891 
an  appeal  was  made  to  her  to  give  aid  in  restoring  to 
the  Pope  of  Rome  his  temporal  power  in  Italy,  but  this 
was  obviously  impossible,  in  view  of  the  nature  of  the 


AUSTKIA-HUNOARY     SINCE     1878.  561 

participation  of  King  Humbert's  government  in  the 
Triple  Alliance. 

The  foreign  relations  of  Austria-Hungary  since  that 
time,  in  the  hands  of  Count  Kalnoky,  and  after  1895 
under  the  guidance  of  his  successor,  Count  Goluchow- 
sky,  who  closely  follows  the  policy  of  Kalnoky,  have 
been  continually  directed  toward  the  peace  of  nations, 
though  a  proposition  for  general  disarmament,  made 
as  early  as  189.3,  was  unfavorably  received  by  the  mon- 
archy. Compacts,  largely  commercial  in  nature,  were 
made  with  Servia  in  1892,  with  Russia  in  1894,  and 
again  in  1897,  the  latter  excluding  England  from  the 
advantages  of  the  agreement. 

The  internal  progress  of  the  country  has  been  most 
satisfactory  on  its  material  side,  though  the  legislation 
necessary  for  its  accomplishment  has  been  carried  on 
with  the  most  unfortunately  notorious  partisan  dis- 
agreements, which  too  often  resulted  in  individual 
personal  violence  on  the  part  of  the  legislators.  The 
time,  however,  available  for  serious  debate  in  the 
Austria-Hungarian  parliaments  has  been  devoted, 
after  much  consideration  of  the  details  of  carrying 
out  the  provisions  made  by  the  Berlin  Congress,  to 
the  preparation  and  passage  of  several  laws  impor- 
tant to  the  peaceful  and  prosperous  administration  of 
the  interior. 

The  greatest  attention  next  to  the  maintenance  of 
the  army  was  given  to  the  legislation  with  respect  to 
the  reform  of  the  currency,  the  franchise,  and  the  civil 
regulation  of  marriages.  In  1886  a  bill  was  introduced 
creating  a  mihtia,  to  be  composed  of  all  men  between 
the  ages  of  nineteen  and  forty-two  not  belonging  either 
to  the  regular  army  or  the  regular  reserves.  It  was 
estimated  that  the  strength  of  this  militia  would  be 
about  330,000.  This  bill  was  passed  in  1889,  but  not 
without  demonstrations  of  much  violence  on  the  part 


562  THE     HOUSE     OF    AUSTRIA. 

of  the  Hungarians,  who  were  obliged  to  see  this  meas- 
ure permanently  adopted  instead  of  for  ten  years  only, 
as  before,  which  would  have  given  them  more  voice  in 
the  matter.  The  strengthening  of  the  army  and  the 
frontier  defenses  continued  in  1891.  The  apparent  in- 
tention on  the  part  of  Russia  to  station  permanently  a 
large  force  on  the  Galician  frontier  called  for  appro- 
priations to  be  made  for  costly  stone  barracks  to  be 
built  and  extensive  new  fortifications  at  Brody,  Tarno- 
pol  and  Stanislau.  This,  together  with  increase  of 
artillery,  new  rifles  and  tents  and  smokeless  powder 
in  1891,  was  followed  in  1893  by  a  reorganization  and 
extension  of  the  landwehr  or  regular  militia.  There 
was  nothing  in  this,  however,  that  would  not  be  ex- 
pected, as  a  natural  increase  of  army,  after  the  agree- 
ment between  Germany  and  Austria ;  which  agreement 
is  understood  to  have  stipulated  a  regular  augmenta- 
tion of  the  military  forces  in  order  to  keep  pace  with 
the  other  European  powers. 

The  reform  of  the  currency  was  taken  up  in  1892, 
and  after  lengthy  consideration  and  investigation  con- 
cerning the  position  abroad  of  Austria-Hungarian  State 
Funds,  the  two  parliaments,  at  Vienna  and  at  Buda- 
Pesth,  simultaneously  resolved  in  July  to  adopt  a  gold 
standard  and  to  mint  two  new  gold  coins  and  two  new 
silver  coins,  besides  numerous  nickel  and  bronze  pieces 
tts  fractional  currency,  which  took  the  place  of  the 
then  existing  coinage.*  In  1894  the  resumption  of 
specie  payments    went  into  effect. 

The  electoral  reform  was  accomplished  in  1893,  un- 

*  The  gold  coins  are: 

30  kronen  piece  =  $4,052      10  kronen  piece  =  $2,036 
The  silver  coins  are: 

1  krone  =  100  heller  =  $0.30    i  krone  =  $0.10 
The  nickel  are: 

20  heller  =  $0.04      10  heller  =  $0.03 
Th«  bronze  coins  are  of  one  and  two-heller  pieces. 


AUSTRIA-HUifGARY    SINCE     1878,  663 

der  the  new  Windischgratz  ministry,  by  the  extension 
of  the  franchise  so  as  to  give  a  vote  not  only  to  lit- 
erates, but  to  all  who  have  contributed  to  a  working- 
man's  fund  for  the  space  of  two  years.  In  order  to 
counterbalance  the  excessive  power  which  might  thus 
be  given  to  the  new  voters,  they  were  put  in  a  new 
curia  or  voting  class,  whose  delegates  in  the  Reichs- 
rath  were  limited  to  43.  This  gives  five  curice  to  the 
Reichsrath,  the  other  four  being:  first,  the  great  land- 
owners, with  86  delegates;  second,  the  towns,  with  48 
delegates;  third,  the  chambers  of  conmierce,  with  21 
delegates;  and,  fourth,  the  rural  conununities,  with 
129  delegates.  This  new  adjustment  in  the  franchise 
gave  to  the  large  middle  class  a  representation  which 
they  had  long  coveted. 

In  spite,  however,  of  the  reforms  of  the  franchise, 
the  abuse  still  maintains  by  which  the  emperor  is  al- 
lowed, in  some  cases  obliged,  to  create  peers  for  the 
purpose  of  influencing  the  vote  in  parliament.  As 
late  as  1895,  he  created,  on  the  "recommendation**  oi 
the  premier,  Baron  Banffy,  four  new  peers,  which  en- 
abled him  to  pass  through  the  House  of  Magnates  bills 
for  freedom  of  worship,  and  to  allow  those  not  Jews  to 
be  converted  to  Judaism. 

Much  of  the  interest  in  the  internal  prepress  of  Aus- 
tria has  centered  about  the  l^islation  with  regard  to 
marriage.  As  early  as  1883  a  bill  was  announced 
making  legal  the  marriage  of  a  Jew  and  a  Christian. 
Further  legislation  was  resumed  in  1892  in  the  shape 
of  a  bill  providing  that  all  marriages  should  be  per- 
formed with  the  civil  ceremony  first.  This  was  neces- 
sitated by  the  fact  that  it  had  long  been  the  custom  ia 
Hungary  for  the  male  children  of  mixed  marriages  to 
be  brought  up  in  the  faith  of  their  fathers  and  the  female 
in  that  of  their  mothers.  An  attempt  had  been  made 
to  compel  the  clergyman  tending  to  the  spiritual  needs 


564 


THE    HOUSE    OP    AUSTRIA. 


of  one  parent,  when  he  baptized  an  infant  to  his  faith, 
to  notify  the  pastor  who  attended  to  those  of  the  other. 
To  this  order  of  things  the  Catholic  clergy  refused  to 
agree,  and  all  attempts  to  make  them  act  in  accordance 
with  it,  or  to  bring  about  any  reconciliation,  had  been 
found  useless.  To  remedy  this  state  of  affairs,  even 
though  indirectly,  obligatory  civil  marriage  was  pro- 
posed. The  bill  was  at  first  rejected,  then  sent  back 
to  the  lower  house  for  amendments,  but  returned  to 
the  House  of  Magnates  unchanged,  where  it  finally 
passed  on  June  21,  1894,  by  a  very  small  majority. 
This  was  followed  by  a  second  bill  concerning  the  re- 
ligion of  the  children  of  mixed  marriages,  and  a  third, 
which  provided  that  births,  deaths  and  marriages  should 
be  registered  by  the  government.  These  bills  were  the 
subject  of  much  contention  for  several  years,  and  were 
finally  made  laws  only  upon  the  most  earnest  desires 
of  the  emperor,  who  was  known  to  have,  in  spite  of 
this  fact,  a  personal  dislike  for  the  bill.  It  had  been 
a  struggle  between  Roman  Catholics  and  other  relig- 
ions, and  terminated  as  it  did  in  spite  of  the  fact  that 
Greek  Catholic  and  Greek  orthodox  churches  did  not 
favor  it.     The  orthodox  Jews  were  also  opposed  to  it. 

Complicated  with  the  question  of  civil  marriage  were 
two  other  politico-religious  matters — one,  that  of  the 
children  of  mixed  marriages,  being  just  noticed,  and 
the  other  involving  the  free  practice  of  all  religions. 
Previous  to  1892  the  custom  had  been  to  divide  the 
religious  beliefs  into  two  classes,  one  of  which  was 
**received"  and  the  other  merely  "tolerated."  The 
Jewish  faith  had  been  included  under  the  latter  head, 
«nd  by  the  present  bill  it  was  proposed,  among  other 
things,  to  "receive"  the  Jewish  religion.  This  bill, 
called  the  "Freedom  of  Worship"  bill,  granted  the 
right  to  decline  or  profess  any  religion  whatever. 

To  illustrate  how  the  feelings  of  rivalry  engendered 


AUSTRIA-HUNGARY     SINCE     1878.  565 

between  the  different  nationalities  of  Austria-Hungary 
continually  came  to  the  surface  in  the  parliamentary 
actions,  we  here  notice  the  story  of  the  repeated  defeat 
of  the  project  to  found  a  Caech  university  in  Prague. 
There  was  already  a  German  imiversity  there;  in  fact, 
the  most  ancient  German  university  in  Europe,  having 
been  founded  in  1348.  There  was  also  a  good  reason 
for  the  establishment  of  a  Czech  university;  for  the 
number  of  residents  of  Prague,  speaking  that  lan- 
guage, was,  at  this  time  (1881),  as  great  as  that  of 
the  German-speaking  inhabitants.  The  bill  for  the 
foundation  of  the  university  was  read  for  the  third 
time  on  May  31,  1881,  and  the  Germans  in  the  Hun- 
garian parliament,  who  were  in  the  majority,  all  voted 
against  it.  The  bill  was  then  dropped,  and  instruction 
in  the  Czech  language  was  taken  up  by  a  branch  erf 
the  German  university.  Certain  German  students  ci 
the  university,  with  their  colors  ostentatiously  dis- 
played, marched,  on  June  26  of  the  same  year,  sing- 
ing German  national  songs  as  they  went,  to  a  little 
village  called  Kuchelbad,  where  they  celebrated  the 
founding  of  a  new  student  society  caUed  Austria, 
The  Czechs  were  much  enraged  by  this  show  of  pride^ 
broke  their  way  into  the  rocnn  where  the  students  were 
holding  their  meeting,  and  attacked  them.  This  re- 
sulted in  a  serious  riot,  which  was  not  put  down  for 
several  days.  As  an  indication  of  the  implacable 
Hatred  between  these  two  nationalities,  this  incident 
ijaused  great  solicitude  in  Vienna  for  the  stability  of 
the  empire;  so  great,  in  fact,  that  Gteneral  von  Kraut 
was  appointed  military  governor  of  Bohemia,  and  the 
civilian.  Baron  von  Weber,  was  retired. 

In  1886  a  bill  was  introduced  in  parliament  to  remove 
certain  r^ulations  concerning  the  use  of  the  Czech  lan- 
guage in  Bohemia.  These  regulations  had  been  bit- 
terly opposed  by  the  Germans  there,  and  had  caused 


5G6  THB     HOUSE     OF     AUSTRIA. 

them  much  discomfort  and  irritation.  The  German 
members  demanded  that  the  Czech  language  should 
be  used  only  in  the  purely  Czechish  localities.  This 
movement  was  rejected,  whereupon  73  German  mem- 
bers left  the  diet  at  once  and  refused  to  take  part  in 
any  of  its  doings.  This  had  been  done  before  in  1871, 
and  the  diet  had  been  forced  to  make  concessions  to 
the  seceding  Germans;  but  this  time  the  scheme  did 
not  work,  and  the  example  of  the  members  at  Prague 
was  not,  as  they  had  hoped  it  would  be,  followed  by 
their  German  brothers  at  Vienna. 

In  October,  1895,  an  unfortunate  series  of  riots  oc- 
curred at  Agram,  during  a  visit  of  the  emperor.  Agram 
is  in  Croatia,  where  the  native  population  is  Roman 
Catholic,  but  there  is  a  proportion  of  Servians  who  are 
believers  in  the  Greek  Orthodox  faith.  The  Servians 
have  been  permitted  to  use  the  Servian  flag  in  their 
religious  celebrations.  The  use  of  Servian  flags  and 
colors  on  the  occasion  of  the  festivities  attending  the 
presence  of  the  emperor  was  so  intensely  irritating  to 
their  Croatian  neighbors  that  the  latter,  chiefly  stu- 
dents, stoned  the  windows  of  the  church  where  the 
Servians  were,  entered  it  and  carried  off  the  flags  there 
displayed.  With  the  mob  at  their  heels,  the  students 
then  proceeded  to  disfigure  other  Servian  buildings, 
and  then  exhibited  in  a  similar  manner  their  hatred 
toward  the  Hungarian  insignia  on  a  triumphal  arch 
erected  in  honor  of  the  emperor.  The  gendarmes  suc- 
eeeded  in  restoring  the  Hungarian  colors,  but  did  not 
dare  to  replace  the  Servian  flag,  as  the  disorder  was 
becoming  more  general,  and  was  directed  particularly 
toward  the  Servians,  than  whom  the  Croatians  are 
three  times  as  numerous.  Order  was  restored  only 
after  the  arrest  and  punishment  of  the  ringleaders. 

The  race  feeling  against  the  Jews  in  the  empire 
has  always  been  very  strong,  as  is  illustrated  by  the 


AUSTRIA-HUNGARY     SINCE     1878.  567 

following  incident  which  occurred  in  1882,  and  ab- 
sorbed public  attention  for  a  year.  It  was  reported 
in  Hungary  that  Esther  Solyoszy,  a  Christian  girl, 
had  been  murdered  by  a  Jew  in  a  small  village  near 
Tokay.  It  was  further  claimed  that  she  was  mur- 
dered so  that  her  blood  could  be  used  in  the  rites  at- 
tending the  ordination  of  a  Jew  butcher,  a  superstition 
concerning  the  Jews  current  among  the  Magyar  Prot- 
estants. Three  months  after  the  disappearance  of 
Esther  Solyoszy,  a  body  of  a  girl  was  found  near  by 
drowned  in  the  river  Theiss,  and  alleged  to  be  that 
of  the  murdered  girl.  It  was  subsequently  proved  that 
it  was  not,  and  that  persons  of  anti-Semitic  sympathies 
had  hired  men  to  place  the  body  in  the  river  and  caused 
the  accusation  of  murder  to  be  preferred  against  the 
Jewish  butcher.  The  matter  was  dragged  into  the 
debates  of  the  Hungarian  parliament  and  called  forth 
violent  language  and  action  on  the  part  of  some  of  the 
deputies. 

The  sentiment  of  hatred  against  the  Jews  in  the  city 
of  Vienna  is  shown  by  the  speeches  of  several  of  the 
members  of  the  Reichsrath  on  excluding  the  Jews 
from  the  benefits  of  the  electoral  reform  of  1896.  Said 
one:  "Jews,  whether  baptized  or  not,  are  excluded 
from  exercising  the  franchise,  and  are  a  menace  to 
the  whole  community.  There  is  no  means  of  protec- 
tion against  their  encroachments,  unless  it  be  the  con- 
fiscation of  their  property.  These  insolent  persons  de- 
serve nothing  but  the  horsewhip" ;  and  another  affirmed : 
"I  am  of  the  opinion  that  the  franchise  can  be  exercised 
only  by  men  in  human  society.  I  cannot  concede  to 
the  Jews  the  right  of  humanity,  and  think  we  should 
make  all  intercourse  between  men  and  Jews  punish- 
able by  criminal  law,  as  an  obscene  act  contrary  to 
nature." 

This  perhaps  will  give,  bette»  "^an  anything  else. 


5G8  THE     HOUSE     OF     AUSTRIA. 

in  addition  to  the  light  it  throws  upon  contemporary 
anti-Semite  feehng  in  the  monarchy,  a  gUmpse  of  the 
manners  of  Austria-Hungarian  legislation. 

Certain  events  of  public  interest  in  Austria-Hungary, 
and  indeed  in  the  whole  civilized  world,  have  occurred 
during  the  time  covered  by  this  chapter. 

In  1889  the  Crown  Prince  Rudolph,  then  thirty-one 
years  of  age,  shot  himself  through  the  head  with  a 
pistol — a  sad  incident,  which  was  the  more  unfortunate 
owing  to  the  circumstances  of  doubtful  morality  which 
surrounded  the  latter  years  of  his  life.  The  brother  of 
the  emperor  then  became  the  heir-apparent  to  the 
throne.  He,  in  turn,  transferred  this  prerogative  to 
his  son,  the  Archduke  Francis  Ferdinand,  nephew 
of  the  present  emperor. 

In  1894  the  Hungarian  patriot,  Louis  Kossuth,  died. 
His  funeral  at  Buda-Pesth  was  a  signal  for  national 
demonstrations  of  sorrow,  and  was  publicly  attended. 
Over  two  hundred  thousand  persons  lined  the  route  of 
his  funeral  procession.  An  oration  was  delivered  by 
the  famous  writer,  Mamus  Jokai.  Partisan  feeling  ran 
so  high  at  the  time  that  the  Royal  Opera  and  the  Na- 
tional Theatre  were  seriously  damaged  by  the  onslaught 
of  a  mob  led  by  university  students. 

The  one  thousandth  year  of  the  existence  of  Hungary 
as  a  nation  was  celebrated  by  the  opening  on  May  2, 
1896,  of  a  millennial  exposition  at  Buda-Pesth.  The 
exposition  was  opened  amid  brilliant  pageantry  by  the 
king  in  person.  Features  of  the  exhibition  were  a  col- 
lection of  historical  relics  displayed  in  buildings  in  the 
styles  of  various  centuries  and  specially  built  for  the 
occasion.  The  products  of  the  country — industrial  and 
agricultural — were  given  a  full  representation  in  the 
exhibition.  A  village  was  also  constructed  in  the  expo- 
sition grounds  to  illustrate  the  different  nationalities 
which  go  to  make  up  the  Hungarian  population.     The 


AUSTRIA-HUNGARY     SINCE     1878.  5G9 

Asiatic  origin  of  the  Magyar  race  was  shown  by  the 
works  of  an  Arabian  writer  who  affirms  that  they  were 
originally  a  tribe  of  nomadic  Turks,  driven  from  their 
own  country,  who  finally  crossed  the  plains  of  the  lower 
Danube,  and,  on  the  invitation  of  King  Arnulph  of 
Bavaria,  settled  in  what  is  now  Hungary.  Chris- 
tianity was  introduced  in  the  tenth  century,  and  at  the 
same  time  the  different  tribes  which  had  hitherto  re- 
mained nomadic  warriors  were  united  to  form  the 
nucleus  of  the  present  Hungarian  nation.  The  Hun- 
garians were  a  bulwark  against  the  inroads  of  the 
eastern  barbarians,  and  thus  were  of  permanent  use  in 
the  progress  of  western  civilization.  The  development 
of  the  Hungarian  people  during  the  last  hundred  years 
was  shown  by  the  population  which  at  the  beginning 
of  the  nineteenth  century  was  three  millions  and  is 
now  over  eight  millions. 

In  the  same  year,  1896,  was  consummated  the  work, 
intrusted  to  Austria-Hungary  by  the  Congress  of  Ber- 
lin in  1878,  of  making  a  channel  through  what  is  called 
the  Iron  Gate  of  the  Danube.  The  Iron  Gate  is  really 
one  of  a  series  of  rocks  projecting  out  of  the  water  be- 
tween Orsova  in  Hungary  and  Gladova  in  Servia, 
which  have  made  navigation  there  always  very  pre- 
carious. The  rock  known  as  the  Iron  Gate  was  cut 
through  by  a  canal  two  miles  long,  over  two  hundred 
and  fifty  feet  broad  and  ten  feet  deep.  The  work  of 
excavating  this  enormous  channel  took  several  years 
to  complete,  and  cost  nearly  $10,000,000.  As  a  result 
of  this  the  Danube  was  then  for  the  first  time  navigable 
from  the  Black  Sea  the  entire  distance  to  Vienna.  The 
completion  of  this  work  was  signalized  by  the  presence 
of  the  Emperor  Francis  Joseph,  who  formally  opened 
the  river  to  navigation  with  imposing  ceremonies  on 
September  27th. 

In  the  following  year,  1897,  a  remarkable  agrarian 


570  THE     HOUSE     OF    AUSTRIA. 

movement  in  the  peasantry  of  Galicia  and  other  por^ 
tions  of  the  country  was  headed  by  an  excommunicated 
priest,  a  socialist  and  a  man  of  much  eloquence.  He 
fired  his  hearers  to  riotous  demonstration,  as  is  so  fre- 
quently the  case  in  the  annals  of  the  Austria-Hungarian 
monarchy,  but  with  little  result,  the  insurrection  being 
finally  put  down  by  the  imperial  troops. 

The  year  1898  was  a  turbulent  one  in  Austria-Hun- 
garian politics.  The  new  cabinet  of  Baron  von  Sautsch 
resigned  and  was  replaced  by  one  under  the  Count  von 
Thun  Hohenstein. 

On  September  10th  a  man  supposed  to  be  an  Italian 
anarchist  named  Lucchesi  assassinated  the  Empress 
Elizabeth.  Her  body  was  taken  to  Vienna.  The  as- 
sassin declared  he  had  done  the  deed  on  his  own  re- 
sponsibility and  not  upon  the  instigation  of  others. 
As  a  result  of  the  information  that  he  was  an  Italian, 
anti- Italian  outbreaks  occurred  in  Austria  and  even  in 
France,  where  there  was  no  great  Austrian  sympathy. 
The  funeral  of  the  empress  took  place  at  Vienna  on 
September  17th  amid  marks  of  general  sorrow  and 
sympathy  for  the  bereaved  emperor. 

Prom  the  viewpoint  of  1898,  it  would  seem  that  the 
present  chapter  might  conclude  once  for  all  the  history 
as  a  separate  nation  of  Austria-Hungary.  The  seeds 
of  disruption  have  been  sown  by  the  government  and 
must  ere  long  be  reaped.  The  many  divergent  tenden- 
cies, political,  religious  and  linguistic,  which  make 
Austria  not  a  strongly  centralized  government  but  a 
conglomeration  of  petty  states  with  differing  interests, 
have  caused  this  monarchy  of  to-day  to  be  likened  to  a 
barrel  of  gunpowder  into  which  a  spark  is  expected 
any  moment  to  fall.  What  these  strongly  centrifugal 
tendencies  point  to  is  the  partition  of  the  empire  by 
Germany  and  Russia,  the  two  gradually  increasing 
in  strong  centralized  administration  and  in  homogene- 


AUSTRIA-HUNGARY     SINCE     1878.  571 

ous  character,  and  already  attracting  to  themselves  and 
absorbing  the  commercial  and  the  sentimental  interests 
of  different  parts  of  the  Austria-Hmigarian  empire. 
The  empire  had  in  1897  an  army  estimated  on  the  basis 
of  the  grand  war  total  of  1,700,000  men,  but,  as  already 
noted,  there  are  eleven  different  dialects  spoken  by  these 
men,  and  it  is  predicted  that  they  could  hardly  be  held 
together  against  any  one  enemy  of  Austria  in  case  of 
war. 


INDEX. 


AjjoLTBrat  (of  Naesau)  election  of  over  the 
Germanic  empire,  86. 
sammoned    to    answer    charges 

against  tiim.  37. 
deposed  by  the  diet,  87. 
death  of,  37. 
Ajjbian  assames  the  tiara,  114 
.fiNEAS  Sylvius,  remarks  of,  7£. 
AoNES  (daughter  of  Oanegunda)  to  marry 
Ehodolph's  son,  81. 
engaged  in  the  massacre,  40. 
enters  a  convent,  41. 
Aix-la-Chapblle,  coronation  of  Albert  L 
at,3S. 
coronation    of   Charles 

V.  at,  107. 
taken  possession  of  by 

Rhodolph,  193. 
peace  of,  461. 
Albbbt  (fourth  Count  of  Hapsburg),  IT. 
departure  of  for  the  nolr  war,  IT. 
address  of  to  his  sons,  18. 
death  of,  18. 

the  favorite  captain  of  Frederic  IL, 
19. 
Albebi  I.  succeeds  his  Gather,  85. 
his  character,  85. 
elected  Emperor  of  Qennanv,  W. 
victor  at  Gelhelm,  87. 
assassination  of,  40. 
AUKBT  III.  rules  with  Otho,  4& 

acquisitions  of,  47. 
Albebt  IV.,  succession  o^  51. 

improvements  projected   bf, 
58. 
Albert  V.  declared  of  age,  69. 

accepted  King  of  Hungary,  6& 
death  of,  65. 
Albbbt  (of  Bavaria)  declines  the  throne  d 

Hungary,  66. 
Albert  (Archduke)  the  candidate  of  tbe 

Catholics,  229. 
Allianob  of  barons  to  crash  Rhodolph  of 
Hapsburg,  21. 
same  dissolved,  22. 
Alphonso  (of  Castile)  candidate  for  crowo 

of  Germany,  28. 
Alphonso  (King  of  Naples),  abdloation  oC  84> 
Amubath,  conquests  of^  64. 
Anabaptists,  rise  of  the  sect  ot  116i 
AiraALT  (Prince  of),  dispatched  with  a  list  of 
grievances  to  th»  emperor,  211. 


Akbalt  (Prince  oO  (co»MfHt«(f>,   addraM 
to  the  emperor,  212. 
ban  of  the  empire  declared  '.gainst, 

•265. 
Ahh  (Princess  of  Hungary  and  Bohemia), 

marriage  of  to  Ferdinand  I.,  145. 
Akna  (of  Russia),  desire  of  to  secure  a  har- 
bor for  Russia,  400. 
Akbodotbs  of  Rhodolph,  88. 

of  Charles  V.,  141. 
Apology  of  Maximilian,  96. 
AsoHnAUSEN,  confederacy  at,  194 
AcrosBiTBa,  diet  of^  24. 

bold  speech  of  the  diet  at,  102. 
triumphal  reception  of  Maurio* 

at,  133. 
Confession  of,  118. 
AtTOCBTOB  II.  loses  and  regains  his  empire, 
382. 
death  of,  882. 
AuLio  Council,  establishment  of  the,  102. 
Adbtbia,  a  portion  of  given  as  dowry  to 
Hedwige,  26. 
nucleus  of  the  empire  of,  27. 
invasion  of  by  John  of  Bohemia, 

49. 
wonderful  growth  of,  52. 
division  of,  72. 

accession  of  Ladislaus  o.ver,  81. 
the  house  of  invested  with  new 

dignity,  101. 
becomes  a  part  of  Spain,  lOS. 
the  empire  of  apparently  on  tha 

eve  of  dissolution,  286. 
the  leading  power  In  Europe,  314 
dispute  as  to  the  succession  to  the 

crown  o^  352. 
treaty  between  Spain  and,  873. 
Maria  Theresa  ascends  the  throne 

of,  415. 
deplorable  state  of  at  that  time, 

415. 
defeat  of  by  Frederic,  420. 
the  proposed  division  of,  422. 
prosperity  of,  444 
Important  territory  wrested  from, 

alliance  of  with  Prussia,  4^9. 
Joseph  II.  ascends  the  throne  o( 

491. 
situation  and  character  of,  492. 
languages  spoken  in,  493. 
Leopold  ascends  the   throne  ot 

500. 

673 


574 


INDBZ. 


AovnuA  (oonHn/ueeT),  aiMnisitioDs  of  by 

the  battle  of  Waterloo,  504 
present  constitution  o^  504. 
doctrines  of  tlie  government  o^ 

503. 
Its  future,  506. 
AC8TBIAK8,  triumph  of  the  at  Brussels,  840. 
triumph  of  the  at  Malplaqnet, 

841. 
evacuation  of  Madrid  by  the, 

845. 
prohibited  from   trading  with 

Spain,  880. 
the,  driv«n  from  the  Neapolitan 

States,  388. 
the,  defeated  at  Orotzka,  407. 


K 


Basbn,  peace  of,  859. 
Bajazbt,  victory  achieved  by,  64 
Baldbb,  attack  of  Khodolph  upon,  22. 
Ballot-bos,  its  authority  in  Poland,  385. 
Balnb  (Lord),  followers  of  put  to  death,  40. 
Banditti,  compa.."'9s  of  pat  down  by  Rho- 

dolphj  82. 
Barbabia,  wife  ofSlgismond,  60. 
Baeoelona,  capture  of  by  Charles,  354 
Baslb,  attack  upon  the  city  of,  90. 

demands  of  the  Bishop  of  upon 

Bhodolph,  22. 
impious  remark  of  the  Bishop  of^ 

23 
aid  of  the  Bishop  of  to  Ehodolph,  29. 
Bat  ASIA  (Henry,  Duke  of).  Intimidated  by 
Kho(^olph,  25. 
marriage  of  Hedwlge  to  Otho  ot, 

25. 
agrees  to  carry  the  edict  of  Worms 

into  effect,  114. 
his  hatred  of  Wallensteln,  27& 
urged  as  a  candidate  for  the  im- 
perial crown,  279. 
dishonorable  despair  of,  488 
death  of,  488. 
Bavabia  (Charles  of),  death  of,  451. 
Bavabia,  Maximilian  Joseph  ascends  the 

throne  of,  451. 
Bayakd  (Chevalier  De),  the  knight  wlthoot 

fear  or  reproach,  90. 
Bblgeaj>b,  relief  of,  69. 
siege  ot,  860. 

capture  of  by  Eugene,  868. 
surrendered  to  the  Turks,  408. 
Bblleislb  (General),  heroic  retreat  of.  441. 
Blenheim,  massacre  at,  834 
B1.00DT  diet,  the,  158. 

theater  of  Eperies,  826. 
Bohemia,  triumphal   march  of  Bhodolph 
into,  30. 
the  crown  of  demanded  bv  Al- 
bert I.,  89. 
tevali  in,  89. 

rise  of  the  nobles  of  against  Fer- 
dinand, 127. 
the  monarchy  of,  154. 
leligious  conflicts  in,  166^ 
resistance  of  to  Ferdinand,  156. 
lymptoms  of  the  decay  of,  180. 
Ferdinand's  blow  at,  268. 
w>yerity  of  Ferdinand  towaids, 
270. 


BoaBKtA  {aomUmied),  eaa  of  Perdinaad 

crowned  king  of,  271. 
change  of  prosperity  of  dnring 

reign  of  Ferdinand  IL,  272. 
rise  of  the  Protestants  In,  286. 
the  Elector  of  Bavaria  crownei 

king  of,  484. 
the  Prussians  driven  from,  450. 
(King  oO,  chosen  Emperor  of 
Germany,  481 . 
Bbanbenbubo,  reply  of  the  Marquis  of  to 

Charles  V.,  118. 
Bbitish  Ministbe,  letter  of  the  in  regard 
to  Maria  Theresa,  295, 
letter  of  the  in  regard 
to  the  affairs  In  Hun* 
gary,  416. 
Bbitnad,  the  Protestant  church  oi;  885. 
Bbcnswiok,  marriage  of  Charles  VL    to 
Elizabeth  Christina  of,  164, 
Bbusseis,  diet  at,  139. 
BtTDA  taken  by  the  Turks,  147. 
Bull  (see  Pope). 
BtTEGHEBS  prevented  from  attending  Prot» 

estant  worship,  188. 
BtrEGiTNDY  (Duke  of),  ambition  of  the,  77. 
BtJEGirNDy  (Mary  of),  marriage  of  by  proxy, 
79. 
death  of;  79. 


0.S8AB  BoBoiA,  plans  for,  89. 
Calendar,  the  Jullar  and  Gregorian,  192. 
Campegio,  a    '     e  from  the  Pope  to,  114. 
Capistrxtn^orn,  rousing  eloquence  of,  6*. 
Cabbikal  Klebes,  counselor  to  the  king; 
241. 
abduction  of  242. 
Cabdjthia,  dukedom  of,  48. 
Cablos  crowned  as  Charles  III.,  888^ 
Caelovitz,  treaty  of,  826. 
Oassau  captured  by  Botskoi,  198. 
Castle  (Hawk's),  situation  of,  17. 

(Oeltingen),  the  dowry  of  Geitrod* 
of  Hohenburg,  19. 
Oaisabine  IL  ascends  the  throne  of  Rus- 
sia, 480. 
cooperates  with  Anstria,  481 
desire  of  to  acqvire  Constan* 

tinople,  496. 
grand  excursion  of,  496. 
places  Count  Ponlatowskl  on 
the  throne  of  Poland,  484 
GAXOBBDns  BoBA,  marriage  of  to  Luther, 

114 
Chasobllob  of  Saxont,  reading  of  the  Coo* 
feseion  of  AngB> 
burg  bv,  118. 
reply   of    to    th* 
emperor,  118. 
Chablbs  of  Bohemia,  succession  of  to  tlw 
kingdom  of  Aus- 
tria, 47. 
death  of,  47. 
Chablbs  Jsmasvbl  (King  of  Sardinia)  char- 
acter of,  886. 
Chabubs    OiTSTAVtTB   SDcceeds    GhristliMI, 
Queen  of  8wede% 
302. 
bis  invasion  of  99- 
land,  80S. 


tWDHX. 


b7b 


Obasub 
Ohablks 


(]HASIiB8 

Ohaslbs 


OUBLB 


QoBTATTB,  energy  o£  SOBi 
(Prince),  defeat  of  by  Frederic, 

254. 
(Prince  of  Lorraine)  marriage  ct, 

447. 
II.,  the  throne  of  Spain  held  by, 
32S. 
sends  embassage  to  the  ptne^ 

829. 
Induced    to     beqneath    the 

cro^rn  to  France,  880. 
death  ot  831. 
III.  crowned  King  of  Spain,  888. 

army  of  routed,  S4<}. 

arrival  of  at  Barcelona,  842. 

desperate  condition  o^  344 

flight  of,  346. 

description  of  his  appearaaoB, 
858. 

dilatoriness  of,  SSS- 

crowned  king,  856> 

Carlos  crowned  aa,  888. 
(See  also  Charles  VL) 
V.  (of  Spain)  inherits  the  AostriaQ 

States,  10& 
petitions  to,  106. 
reqnired  to  sign  a  coostltatloa, 

108. 
ambition  oi^  109. 
apolo^-etic  declaration  of,  112. 
refusal   of  to   violate  hia  safe 

conduct,  112. 
attempts  of  to  bribe  Lather, 

113. 
determination  of  to  sappreas 

religions  agitation,  115. 
interview  of  with  the  pope  at 

Bologna,  117. 
call  of  for  the  diet  at  Angsbarg, 

117. 
Intolerance  of,  119. 
appeal  of  to  the  Protestants  tat 

aid,  122. 
In  violation  of  his  pledge,  terns 

against  the  Protestants,  122. 
eecrut  treaty  of  with  the  King 

of  France,  12a 
treaty  of  wltti  the  Turks,  12& 
forces  secured  by  against  tbd 

Protestants,  124. 
alarm  of  at  the  preparations  of 

the  Protestants,  125. 
preparations  of  to  enforce  the 

Ct>uacil  of  Trent,  125. 
march  of  to  Insolstadt,  126. 
flight  of  to  Landshut,  126. 
triumph  of  over  the  Proteeft- 

ants,  126. 
flonquers  the  Elector  of  SaZ< 

OTiy,  12a 
tevenge  of  towatda  the  Etootor 

of  Saxonv,  128. 
Barch  to  Wittember&  128. 
visit  to  the  grave  of  Lather, 

129. 
attempts  of  to  settle  the  relig> 

Ions  diflferences,  129. 
attempt  of  to  establish  the  in* 

qnisition  in  Burgondj,  129. 
power  of  over  the  pope,  130. 
eails  a  diet  at  Augsburg,  130. 
ftiUare  of  to  accomplish   tbe 

election  of  Philip,  181. 


*^*"'—  7.  (fit  Spain)  'coTUitmed)  con- 
founded at  tbe   success    of 

the  Protestants,  183. 
flight  of  from  Maurice,  133. 
onconquerable  will  of^  185. 
orged  to  yield,  136. 
fortune  deserting,  187. 
extraordinary  despondency  o£ 

138. 
abdication  of  in  &vor  of  Philip 

his  son,  189. 
enters  the  conyent  <tf  St.  Jna- 

tns,  141. 
convent  life  of,  14L 
death  of,  143. 
anecdotes  of,  144. 
attempt   of   to   abdicate    the 

elective  crown  of  Germany 

to  Ferdinand,  160. 
OBABUB  VL  (see  also  Charles  III.  for  pre- 
vious informationX  Umita* 

tlons  imposed  on  the  power 

ot,  356. 
desertion  of  byhis  allies,  357. 
addition    of   Wallachia    and 

Servia  to  the  dominion  of, 

864. 
marriage  of,  864. 
bis  alteration  of  the  compact 

established  by  Leopold,  864 
power  of,  865. 
Uivolved  in  duplicity,  877. 
Insult  to,  3S0. 
ambition    of   to    secure   the 

throne    of    Spain   for    his 

daughters,  8S2. 
the  loss  of  Lombardy  felt  by, 

887. 
attempt  of  to  force  assistanos 

li-om  France,  890. 
bis  flrst  acknowledgment  at 

the  people,  in  his  letter  to 

Count  Kinsky,  391. 
Interterence  of  in  Poland,  898. 
aends  Strickland  to  London 

to  overthrow  the  cabinet, 

891. 
troubles  of  in  Italy,  894. 
distraction  oi,  896. 
proposal  of  for  a  settlement 

with  France,  897. 
bnmbled  by  loss  of  empire, 

893. 
a  scrupulous  Bomanist,  400. 
removal  of  all  the  Protestants 

ftom  the  army,  404. 
fears  of  for  tbe  safety  of  M< 

ria  Theresa,  406. 
anguish  of  at  the  sorrender 

of  Belgrade,  411. 
letter  of  to  the  Queen  of  £aa> 

8ia,412. 
death  of;  414. 
CbABLEB  VIL,  death  o^  451. 
Obablbs  VIIL    informed   of    the    leagtM 
against  him,  88. 
death  ot  89. 
Ohaslbs  XII.  joins  the  Austrian  party,  888. 
death  of,  863. 
conquests  of;  882. 
CHAZLBA0,  battle  of,  4:35. 
Chiustiana,  the  succession  of  Sweden  coa- 

ferred  upon,  280. 


576 


IXDBZ. 


Chektiawa  (oonHnmed)  sbdicstes  In  favor 

of  Charles  Gustavus,  802. 
CHHlflTlAN  IV.  (of  Denmark),  leader  of  the 
Protestants,  declares  war, 
267. 
conquered    by    Ferdinand, 
268. 
Obtboh,  exactions  of  the,  102. 
(htjLL,  influence  of  Count  over  Ladislaus, 
68. 
driven  ftwm  the  empire,  68. 
CSlehbnt  VII.  succeeds  Adrian  as  pope,  116. 
Clbves,  duchy  of  put  in  sequestration,  218. 
CoLooNS,  the  Archbishop  of  joins  the  Protp 
estants,  124. 
deposition  of  the  Archbishop  of, 
12G. 
CONBHOT,  Luther  presented  with  a  safe,  110. 
Confession  op  Augsbukg,  118. 

reading  o^  119. 
CoNCKRSS  at  Eothenburg,  226. 
at  Hanau,  445. 
at  Prasjue,  1618,  and  letter  of  to 

Matthias,  236. 
of  electors  at  Frankfort,  85. 
OONSPIEAOT  against  Albert.  86. 

formed  by  AJberl  against  Adol- 
phns,  87. 
OOHSTANTINOPI4B,  capture  of  by  the  Turks, 

64. 
CoNSTiTtmoN,  Charles  V.  required  to  sign 

a,  108. 
CoiraoiL  of  Trent,  124, 

of  Trent  in  1562,  164. 
of  State  convened  in  Spain,  8S1. 
Oeemnitz,  resistance  of,  143. 
Cbkmonia  to  be  disposed  of  as  plunder,  89. 
Choatia  invaded  by  the  Turks,  195. 
Ceotzka.  battle  of,  407. 
Ceusade  against  the  Turks,  64. 
CtrNBOUNDA  (wife  of  Ottocar),  her  taunts, 
27. 
offer  of  to  place  Bohemia  un- 
der the  protection  of  £ho- 
dolph,  81. 


D. 

Danitbb,  position  of  Austria  on  the,  26. 
Daun  (Count),  honors  of  at  his  victory,  473, 
Dknmark,  the  King  of  obliged  to  yield  to 

Charles  Gustavus,  806. 
DiEPOLD  thrown  from  the  palace  by  the 

mob,  828. 
Diet,  command  of  the  of  Augsburg  to  Otto- 
car, 14. 
at  Augsburg,  118. 
at  Augsburg,  180. 
at  Brussels.  139, 
at  Lubec,  269. 
at  Prague,  in  1547, 168. 
at  Prague,  179. 

the  Protestant  at  Prague,  209. 
decrees  of  the,  210. 
at  Passau,  187. 
its  agreement  as  to  the  rights  of  the 

Protestants,  188. 
at  Pilgram,  66. 
at  Presburg,  accusation  ot  Leopold 

by  the,  809. 
at  Eatisbon,  179. 
at  Spites,  11& 


DiBF  (^BonUmi«d)  at  Stetzim,  MH 
demands  of,  850. 
at  Worms,  86. 
refusal  of  the  at  Worms  to  ooopent* 

with  Maximilian,  96. 
at  Znaim,  61. 

power  of  the  Hungarian,  808. 
DoOTErNE  of  the  three  parties,  190. 

ancient  and  modern,  contentiM 
about  shadowy  points  of,  2SS. 
DsESDEN,  treaty  ot,  453. 


E. 


Ebnest,  death  ot,  202. 

Eleonoba  (wife  of  Leopold),  iier  cliaraoter, 

8.85. 
marriage  of,  886. 
her  death,  887. 
EifBNABEN,  a  fleet  assembled  at  by  Gus- 
tavus Adolphus,  281. 
Elizabeth  (wife  of  Philip  V.),  ambition  o^ 
871. 
demands  of  on  Charles  VI.,  872. 
Elizabeth  (of  Russia),  death  of,  479. 
Emebio  Tekeli  invested  with  the  Hunga- 
rian forces,  819. 
Enoi^and,  assistance  of  against  the  Turks, 
94. 
supports  the  house  of  Austria 

against  France,  832. 
curious  contradictory  conduct  oil 

.346. 
pledge  of  to  support  the  Prag- 
matic Sanction,  880. 
supports     Austria     to     check 

France,  428. 
determines    to    support    Maria 

Theresa,  436. 
prodigality  of,  447. 
war  declared  against  by  France, 

448. 
purchases  the  aid  of  Poland,  452. 
private    arrangement    of    with 

Prussia,  457. 
remonstrated  v..th  for  its  treat- 
ment ot  the  queen,  468. 
alliance  of  with  Prussia,  466. 
a  subsidy  voted  Prussia  by,  476. 
alarmed  at  the  strides  of  Austria 
and  Russia,  499. 
Epeeies,  tribunal  at,  824. 
Eenest,  conquests  of,  59. 
EtrQENE  (Prince)  commands  the  Anstrlaa 
army,  332. 
his  heroic  capture  of  Belgrade,  868. 
his  disapproval  of  the  war,  889. 
death  of,  398. 
funeral  honors  of,  899. 
EiTBOPB,  condition  of  the  different  poweis 

of,  2fi9. 
ExoouMUNioATioN  of  the  Venetians,  97. 


Fajolt  of  Rhodolph,  25. 

the  three  daughters  of  the  imperial, 
864. 
Febdenand  (of  Austria)  invested  with  the 
government  of  the  Austrian 
States,  lia 


IKDBZ. 


ft?? 


tWBHtSAXTD 

Fkbdwand 
Pkbdikans 


Mbhmahd 


(of  Austria)  (oonMiuMcf)  deter- 
mines to  arrest  Protestant- 
ism, 114. 

assames  some  impartiality,  116. 

Obosen  King  of  tiie  Komana, 
120. 

Boticmia  and  Hangary  added 
to  ills  kina;doin,  146. 

demands  ttie  restitution  of  Bel- 
grade, 146. 

his  siege  ofBuda,  153. 

tribute'  of  to  the  Turlvs,  153. 

hla    attempts   to   weal;en    tlie 

Eower  of  tlie  Hungarian  no- 
les,  15.5. 
conditions  of  liis  pardon  of  tlie 

llungarian  nobles,  157. 
his  panisliment  of  the  revolt- 

ers,  153. 
bis  establisliment  of  the  Jesnits 

in  Bohemia,  158. 
bis  inconsistencies,  15S. 
obtains  the  crown  of  Germany, 

161. 
opposed  by  the  pope,  162. 
elected  Emperor  of  Germany, 

283. 
character  ot,  234. 
rich  spoils  oi;  273. 
be  assembles  a  diet  at  Batisbon, 

275. 
perplexity  of  in  regard  to  the 

demands  of  the  diet,  277. 
(Kin^    of   Arragon)  furnishes 
supplies  for  the  war  against 

the  Venetians,  95. 
(of  Naples),  flight  of  to  Iscliia, 

85. 
(King  of  the  Romans)  crowned 

at  Ratisbon,  802. 
his  death,  302. 
I.,  illustrious  birth  of,  145. 
marriage  o^  145. 
efforts  of  to  unite  Protest- 
ants and  Catholics,  164. 
attempts  of  to  prevent  the 
spread  of  Protestantism, 
167. 
the  fonnder  of  the  Austrian 

empire,  16S. 
death  of,  163. 
II,  manifesto  of;  240. 

abduction      of     Cardinal 

Kleses  by,  242. 
troops  of  defeated  by  tho 

Protestants,  243. 
refers  the   complaints   of 
tho  Protestants  to  arbi- 
tration, 843. 
anpopularity  of  with  the 

Catholics,  247. 
nnexpected  rescne  of;  249. 
elected  King  of  Germany, 

250. 
ooncludes  an  alliance  with 

Maximilian,  254. 
•ecnres  the  coSperatlon  of 
the    Elector   of   ^axoaf 
and  Louis  XIIL,  256. 
•abdues  Austria,  257. 
barbarity  of  the  troops  ot, 

25S. 
vengeance  of,  263. 


FBKDiHAn  n.    VTttinMed),   meeting   at 
Katisbon  to  approve  th« 
acts  oC,  265. 
victories  oi;  263. 
capture  of  tho  duohiee  at 

Mecldenburg,  26a 
seizes  Pomerania,  26S. 
revokes  all  concessions  tc 

the  Protestants,  270. 
son  of   crowned   King  of 

Bohemia,  271. 
manifesto  of  against  Gos- 

tavus  Adolphus,  2S8. 
deuoroua  appreciation  of  to 
th(.'  memory  of  Gostaviu 
Adolphus,  296. 
outwitted  by  a  Capuchin 

friar.  279. 
succeeds  in   securing   the 
election  of  his  son  Fer<y- 
uand,  299. 
his  death,  '^99. 
Fbsimbard  IIL  ascends  the  throne,  245. 

his  proposal    for   a    trace 

with  Prague,  246. 
desire  of  for  peace,  800. 
succeeds  in   securing    the 
election  of   his   son    as 
Ferdinand  King  of  the 
Romans,  802. 
death  of,  808. 
Fleubt    (Cardinal),    ascendancy    of    over 

Louis  XV.,  873. 
FLOsaNCB  threatened  by  Louis  XII.,  90. 
Fbakcb,  influence  of  in  wresting  sacriflcet 
from  the  emperor,  279. 
the  dominant  power,  315. 
firaad  by  which  obtained  posses- 
sion of  Spain,  331. 
condition  of  under  Louis  XrV„ 

857. 
refusal  of  to  engage  In  the  Polish 

war,  890. 
design  of  to  deprive  Maria  Theresa 

of  her  kingdom,  423. 
declares    war    against    England, 

448. 
alliance  of  effected  with  AustrlOi 
467. 
Fkanoib  (of  France)  claims  Anatria,  106L 
perfidy  of,  127. 
death  ot  128. 
Fbancis  L  (Duke  of  Lorraine)  elected  Em- 
peror of  Germany,  457. 
Fbancis  XL  ascends  the  throne,  504. 
Fbaxois  Kavaillac,  the  assassin  of  Henn 

IV.,  215. 
FBAifKFORT,  congress  at,  35i. 
Fbederio  (King  of  Naples),  doom  of,  99. 
Fekdkbio  (of  Saxony),  friendly  seizure  of 
I  Luther  by,  118w 

'  death  ot  114. 

Fbbdebio  L  (th»<  UandsomeX  capton  «£ 
43. 

surrender  of,  44. 
death  of,  45. 
Fkkscbio  IL  (of  GermanyX  renown  oi;  IS 
death  ot,  432. 

curious  occupations  of;  49& 
Fbbbxbio  II.  (of  Austria),  treachery  «t,  Ik 
wanderings  ot  77. 
death  ot  81. 
VsHvaaio  Y.,  character  <a,  261. 


578 


nxDnx. 


Fhkdebio  v.    ^nUnued)  acceiits  the  crown 
of  Bohemia,  25  i. 
Inefficiency  of,  258. 
his  feast  during  the  assault, 

258. 
renounces  all  claim  to  Bohe- 
mia, 269. 
flight  of;  262. 

his  pToperty  eequesttated,  264 
Fbedbbio  (King   of  Bohemia,  Elector  of 

Palatine),  death  ot,  296. 
fsKOKBia  (of  Prussia),  demands  of^  417. 
seizure  of  Silesia  by,  418. 
triumphal  entrance  into  Breslan, 

419. 
his  defeat  of  Neuperg,  420. 
opinions    of    on    magnanimity, 

423. 
his  indignation  at  the  small  con- 

cessions  of  Austria,  424. 
Implores  peace,  483. 
violation  of  his  pledge,  435. 
capture  of  Prague  by,  449. 
sarprises    and    defeats    Prince 

Charles,  4M. 
Invasion  of  Saxony  by,  458. 
explanation     demanded      from 

Austria  by,   469. 
artifice  of  to  entrap  the  allies, 

470. 
defeat  of  at  Prague,  478. 
•  recklessness  of,  476. 

undaunted  perseverance  of,  477. 

despair  of,  479. 

secures  an  alliance  with  Prussia, 

480. 
letter  of  to  Maria  Theresa,  488, 
peaceful  reply  of,  500. 
jfBBHOB,  the,  driven  out"  of  Italy,  94. 

the,  routed  near  Brussels,  840. 

rout  of  at  Brussels,  840. 

defeat  of  tne  at  Malplaquet,  S41. 


Oabbiel  Bbthlbhem  chosen  leader  in  the 
Hungarian  revolu- 
tion, 152. 
he    retires    to  Pres- 

bnrg,  253. 
compelled  to  sue  for 
peace,  26£. 
Gelheim,  battle  ol^  87. 
Gallas  appointed  commander  in  place  of 

Wallenstein,  263. 
Genoa,  aid  furnished  Leopold  by,  811. 
Qkbhaitt,  its  conglomeration  of  States,  18. 
independence  of  each  State  ot, 
18. 

Sosition  of  the  Emperor  oi;  19. 
ecline  of  the  imperial  dlgnil^y 

of,  85. 
its    division  into  ten  districts, 

101. 
growing  independence  in  of  the 

pope,  162. 
tranquillity  of  under  Ferdinand, 

172. 
rejoicing  in  at  the  downfall  of 

Khodolph,  225. 
divided  into  two  leagues,  2S3. 
dlstraoted  state  of,  W9. 


OKBMAmr  (continued),  religious  agitation 
in,  870. 
the  Elector  of  Bavaria  chosen 
Emperor  of,  434. 
Gbbtbubb  (of  Hohenburg;,  marriage  oC  tc 
Ehodolph  ot  Hapsburg,  li. 
her  dowry,  19. 
GniitBAPAPDA  to  be  bestowed  on  Venice 

89. 
OiBBALTAB  taken  by  the  EngKsh,  839. 
€k)LDEN  Fleboe,  establishment  of  the  ©»• 

der  of  the,  372. 
Oban,  capture  of  the  fortress  at,  -324 
Geeat  W ardein,  siege  o^  307. 

the  Turks  retain,  818. 
Geehadeb,  the  plot  at,  92. 
GBnrvANOES  complained  of  by  the  confed- 
eracy at  Heilbrun,  192. 
GmooiAEDnn,  remark  of  Charles  V.  about, 

144. 
GmpowDEB,  its  introduction,  82. 
GtTNTZ,  triumphant  resistance  of  the   for- 
tress of,  150. 
GusTAVus  Vasa  (King  of  Sweden),  league 
with  against  Charles  v., 
127. 
GuBTAVxrs  Adolphub,  rouses  the  countiy 
against  Ferdinand 
II.,  280. 
assembles  a  fleet  at 

Elfsnaben,  281. 
Stettin  captured  by, 

281. 
Mark    of   Branlen- 
burg  taken  posses- 
sion of  by,  281. 
conquers  at  the  bat- 
tle of  Leipsic,  285. 
his    tranquil    cam- 
paign, 2S6. 
llis  intrench  ment  at 

Nuremberg,  290. 
hla  attack  on   Wal- 
lenstein, 293. 
his  death,  2(^8. 
relics  of,  29i>. 


H. 

Hanau,  conference  at,  445. 

Hanovek,  title  of  the  Elector  of  to  the 

crown  of  England,  867. 
Hawk's  Castle.    (See  Castle.) 
Hedwioe,  wife  of  Albert  of  Hapsburg,  18. 

betrothal  of,  53. 
Helvetic    States,    independence    of    ac- 
knowledged, 89. 
Henbt  (Duke  of  Anjou),  abdication  of  the 
throne  of  Poland,  180. 
succeeds  Charles  IX.,  180. 
Henet  (Duke  of  Carinthia)  chosen  king,  89. 
Henby  (Count  of  Luxemburg)  elected  Em= 
peror  of  Austria,  41. 
his  death,  41. 
Henet  (of  Valois)  succeeds  Charles  IX, 

171. 
Henby  VIII.  (of  England)  claims  Austria, 

107. 
Henbt  IV.  (of  France),  efforts  of  to  unite 
Lutherans    and     Calvinism 
190. 
political  course  of,  214. 


IN"DEX. 


579 


Hbkbt  rV.  (of  France)  (continued),  aeaas- 
sination  of,  215. 
hl»  plans  for  remodeling  En- 
rope,  216. 
HocKKiBCHEN,  battle  of,  475. 
Holy  Lbagtjb,  formation  of,  116. 
HuNOABiANS,  the,  summon  a  dietj  849. 

the,  remonatrate  with  Leo- 
pold, 501 
(see  also  Hungary). 
HuNeABT,  despotism  of  Rhodolph  HI.  in, 
190. 
new  revolt  in,  307. 
attempt  of  Leopold  to  establish 

despotic  power  in,  317. 
rise  of  against  Leopold,  3.3.3. 
troubles  in  observed  by  Joseph 

I.,  319. 
enthusiastic  support  of  Maria 

Theresa  in,  432 
(see  also  Hungarian^ 
HumoADBS  (John),  regent  of  Kungaty,  68. 
popularity  of,  68. 
death  of,  71. 
Hthn,  singing  of  a  by  the  army  of  Gns- 
tavus  on  the  field  of  battle,  292. 


Isabella  (wife  of  Frederic),  death  of,  45. 
IsABEULA  (of  Spain),  determination  of  to 
obtain  for  her  son  the  crown  of 
Hungary,  152. 
propositions  of  to  Ferdinand  for 
peace,  154. 
Imperial  Chamber,  creation  of  the,  87. 
Ingolstadt,  Charles  V.  marches  to,  126. 
Innspruck,  arrival  of  the  Duke  of  Ludo- 
vico  at,  90. 
the  emperor  pick  at,  103. 
the  palace  at  surrendered  to 
pillage,  134. 
iNStrBBBCTiON  in  Vienna,  S6. 
of  Suabia,  55. 
Inzendokt,  the  Lord  of,  arrested  by  Mat- 
thias 206. 
IsoHiA,  flight  of  Ferdinand  to  the  island  of, 

ITAI.Y,  Invasion  of  by  Mahomet  n.,  82. 

victories  of  Henry  of  France  m,  136. 
invaded  by  the  Spaniards,  388. 
invaded  by  the  French  and  Span- 
iards, 4^. 


jASHBLiiOiT,  the  Grand  Duke,  63. 

marriage  of  Hedwige  to,  54. 
baptism  of,  54 
(for  further  reference  eeeLad- 
islaus.) 
jAarES  I.,  matriinouial  negotiations  of,  266. 
Jeanette  Poisson  (see  Marchioness  of 

Pompadour). 
Jesuits,  the,  expelled  from  Prague,  239. 
Joanna  (of  Spam),  insanity  of,  106. 
John  (of  Bohemia),  character  of,  46. 

his  invasion  of  Austria^9. 
John  Sigismond,  death  of,  li8. 
John  Sobieski  goes  to  the  relief  of  Vieona, 
32a 


John  Sobieski  (continutd),  enfliuslastlc 
reception  of,  322. 
refuses  to  fight  Tekeli  3^1. 
John  (the  Constant)  succeeds  Frederic, 

Elector  of  Saxony   114. 
John  (of  Tapoli),  negotiations  of  with  the 
Turks  for  the  throne  of  Hungary. 
151. 
marriage  and  death  of,  52. 
John  (of  Medici)  elected  pope,  100. 
Joseph  (of  Germany)  elected  as  successor 

of  Leopold,  316. 
Josefh  I.  secures  a  treaty  with  France  foi 
neutrality  for  Italy,  a39. 
continues  the  war  against  Spain, 

338. 
political  concessions  of  in  Hun- 

gary,  349. 
refusal  of  to  grant  the  demands 

of  the  diet,  350. 
Transylvania  again  subject  to. 

351. 
rout  of  the  Hungarians  by,  351. 
death  of.  352. 
JosBFB  n.  (of  Austria)  elected  to  succeed 
the  Emperor  Francis,  481. 
assumes  the  crown  of  Germany, 

484. 
succeeds  Maria  Theresa,  491. 
chai-acter  of,  492. 
death  of,  500. 

attempt  of  to  obliterate  distinc- 
tions in  Austria,  493. 
emancipates  the  serfs  of,  494. 
joins  the  excursion  of  Catherine 

II.,  497. 
defeat  of  at  Belgrade,  498. 
successes  of,  499. 
JtrutTS  HI.  ascends  the  pontifical  throne, 
130. 


E. 


Kaunitz  (Count)  appointed  prime  minis- 
ter, 462. 
KETENHtiLLEB  (General)  given  the  com- 
mand  or    the  Austrian 
army,  405. 
BIiNQ,  nominal  power  of  the,  308. 
KiNSKT,  letter  of  Charles  VI.  to,  391. 
Kleses.    (See  Cardinal.) 
KoNiGSEGO  (General),  power  of  in  a  coun- 
sel of  war,  404. 
recalled  in  disgrace,  405. 


T.A-niBT.Ana  J.,  coronation  of,  65. 

visit  of  to  the  pope,  67. 
inglorious  fliglit  of,  69. 
tyranny  of  towards  the  fam^ 

ily  of  Hunniades,  71. 
flight  of  from  Buda,  71. 
his   projected  marriage  to 

Magdalen,  71. 
death  of.  72. 
LadisIiATTS  n.  elected  King  of  Hungary 
79. 
assumes  the  government  of 
Austria,  81. 
Landau,  the  Aastriana  checked  at,  47. 


580 


i:s-DEX 


Laitoshitt,  flight  of  Charles  V.  to,  JS8. 
Leagub  agiaiuet  France,  85. 
of  Augsburg,  315. 
Lbipsio  captured  by  Tilly,  285. 
I.EO  X.,  Joan  of  Medici  aesumes  tho  name 

of,  100. 
IiSoeou}I.(of  Austria)  sacceeda  Ferdinand 
III.,  304. 
convenes  the  diet  at  Presburg, 

309. 
accused  by  the  diet  of  perseca- 

tiou,  309. 
his  desire  for  peace,  312. 
organizes  a  coalitiou  against 

LouiB  XIV.,  315. 
attempt  of  toestablishdespotic 

power  in  Hungary,  817. 
driven  from  Hungary,  317. 
flight  of  with  his  family,  819. 
humiliation  of,  322. 
disgust  of  the  people  with,  824. 
vengeance  of,  324. 
efforts  of  to  obtain  adecree  that 
the  crown  was  hereditary,  325. 
claims  Spain,  326. 
declares  war  against  France, 

3.31. 
deserted  by  the  Dulse  of  Bava- 
ria, 334. 
death  of.  3.34. 
canonization  of,  835. 
his  various  marriages,  336. 
VbovolD  n.  ascends  the  Austrian  throne, 
500. 
despotism     of     in    Hungary 
meets  with  a  remonstrance, 
501. 
interposes  against  France,  602. 
letter  of  to  the  King  of  En- 
gland, 502. 
death  of,  502. 
IiXOFOLD  I.  (of  Germany),  character  and 

death  of,  45. 
Leopold  I.  (of  Swtzerland),  character  of, 
52. 
death  of,  57. 
Leopold  II.,  succession  of,  57. 

assumes  the  guardianship  of 

Albert  V.,  59. 
death  of,  59. 
I^opoLD  (Archduke),  invasion  of  Upper 
Austria  by,  230. 
defeat  of  by  Matthias,  221. 
Lewis  IL,  excommunication  of,  50. 
Liberty  the  spirit  of  acting  in  France,501. 
Lithuania,  duchy  of,  53. 

annexation  of  to  Poland,  54 
Loredo,  arrivu!  of  Charles  V.  at,  141. 
Lorraine  (.Chevalier  De),  duel  between 
the  and  the  young  Turls,  312. 
LoRRAnTE,  duchy  of  demanded  by  France, 

397. 
I.OBBAINB  (Francis  Stephen,  Duke  of)  com- 
pelled to  flee  from  Hungary, 

his  engagement  with  Maria  Tlie- 

resa,  395. 

deprived  of  liis  kingdom,  897. 

his  marriage,  398. 

appointed  commander  of  the  ar- 
my, 404. 

leply  of  the  to  the  demand  of 
jBisderic,  418. 


Loins  XIL,  enccesslon  of  to  tbe  tbrone  on 

France,  89. 
inaugurated  Bukeof  Milan,  90. 
diplomacy  of,  91. 
LoiTiB  XTTf.  espouses  the  cause  of  Ferdi* 

nand  I.,  256. 
Loins  XIV.,  attempt  of  to  thwart  Leopoid. 
304. 
marriage  of,  814. 
lesolve  of  to  annex  a  part  ot 

Spain,  314. 
responsible  for  devastation  of 

the  Palathiate,  316. 
rapacious  character  of,  317. 
claims  Spain,  326. 
preparations     of     to    Invade 

Spain,  829. 
desire  of  to  retire  from  the 

conflict,  341. 
melancholy  situation  of,  857. 
Lotus  XV.  begins  to  takjfpart  In  the  gov- 
ernment, 878. 
Louis  XVI.,  plans  of,  502. 
Louis  (of  Bavaria)  elected  emperor,  42: 
excommunication  of,  47. 
death  of,  47. 
Louis  (of  Hungary),  death  of,  14ft. 
Louis  (son  of  Philip  V.),  death  of,  371. 
LuBEC,  peace  of,  269. 
LuDOFico,  escape  of  the  Duke  of,  98. 
LcDOVico  (Duke  of  Milan),  recovery  of 
Italy  by  the  Duke  of,  90. 
mutiny  of  the  troops  of,  91. 
death  of,  92. 
LuTBBB  summoned  to  repair  to  Borne,  102. 
bull  of  the  pope  against,  108. 
works  of  burned,  109. 
support  of  at  the  diet  of  Worms, 

110. 
summoned  to  appear  before  tht 

diet,  110. 
triumphal  march  of,  111. 
memorable  reply  of.  111. 
triumph  of,  112. 
attempts  of  Charles  V.  to  bribe, 

113. 
his  PatmoB,  113. 
his  German  Bible,  113. 
the  party  of  encouraged  by  Adrian 

the  poije,  114. 
marriage  of,  114. 
the  Confession  of  Augsburg  too 

mild  for,  119. 
visit  of  Charles  V.  to  grave  of,  128. 
Lutherans,  reply  of  to  Henry  IV.,  191 

(see  also  Luther). 
LuTZEN,  meeting  of  the  armies  at,  S91. 
battle  of,  292. 


M. 

Madbtd,  evacnatlon  of,  by  the  Anstrlana, 

845. 
MAeDBBtTBd,  the  city  of,  eepouses  Gns- 
tavus,  282. 
sacking  oi,  by  tiaia  imperial 
troops,  283. 
Mahomet  II.,  siege  of  Belgrade  b^  69. 
Mahomet  IV.,  his  foreign  war,  aw._ 
Marlborough  (Duke  on.  the  guardian  at 
Anne,  Sii. 
I  Malplaquet,  battle  at,  341. 


INDEX. 


581 


llANTrA,  aid  farnlehed  Leopold  by,  311. 

battle  at,  387. 
Kabchiom£88  op  Pompadour,  arrogance 

of,  464. 
Mabia  AiiTonrKTTE,  history  of,  487. 

letter  of  Maria  The- 
resa to,  488. 
Habia  Thsbbsa  (of  Spain),  marriage  of  to 

Louis  XIV.,  314. 
MabiaThkbesa  (of  Austria),  character  of, 
895. 

her  attachment  for  the 
Duke  of  Lorraine,  395. 

marriage  of,  398. 

ascends  the  Austrian 
throne,  415. 

solicitations  of  to  foreign 
powers,  417. 

her  apparent  doom,  421. 

consents  to  part  with 
Glo^au,  4^4. 

a  son  born  to  her,  426. 

desireof  that  her  husband 
should  obtain  the  im- 
perial crown,  427. 

her  coronation  at  Pres- 
burg,  429. 

address  of  to  the  diet,  431. 

reinforcements  of.  436. 

ambitious  dreams  of,  439. 

forbids  the  conference  for 
the  relief  of  Prague,440. 

attempt  of  to  evade  her 
promise  to  Sardinia,446. 

arrogance  of  excites  in- 
dignation of  the  other 
powers,  449. 

rouses  the  Hungarians, 
450. 

recovers  Bohemia,  450. 

interview  of  the  English 
ambassador  with,  454. 

eigns  the  treaty  of  Dres- 
den, 458. 

Indignation  of  at  peace 
bemg  signed  by  En- 
gland, 460. 

chagrin  of,  461. 

her  energetic  discipline, 
462. 

secures  the  friendship  of 
the  Marchioness  of 
Pompadour,  465. 

reproaches  towards  En- 
gland, 466. 

her  diplomatic  fib,  468. 

victories  of,  475. 

loses  Russia  and  Sweden, 
480. 

recovers  the  cooperation 
of  Russia,  481. 

children  of,  486. 

letter  of  to  JMaria  Antoin- 
ette, 488. 

letter  to  Frederic  desir- 
ing peace,  489. 

charge  to  her  son,  490. 

death  of.  491. 

fate  of  her  children,  491. 
Mabt  Amra  (of  Spain)  affianced  to  the 
dauphin  of  France,  372. 
insultmg  rejection  of,  373. 
Mabg  AB£T(of  Bohemia),  engagemient  of ,40. 


Mabsabet  (of  Bohemia)  (con(inved),  mar- 
riaf^e  and  llight  of,  49. 
divorce  of,  49. 
Mabqabet,  celebration  of  the  nuptials  of, 

314. 

Mabk  07  Bbandekbcbo,  taken  possession 

of  by  Gustavua 

Adolphus,  281. 

Mabtinetz  thrown  from  the  palace  by  the 

mob,  328. 
Massacbe,  the,  of  St.  Bartholomew,  171. 
Mathew  Henry  (Count  of  Thurn),  leader 
of  the  Protestants,  234. 
convention  called  by,  236. 
Matthias  (of  Hungary),  invasion  of  Aus- 
tria by,  75. 
death  of,  79. 
Matthias,  character  of,  201. 

chosen  leader  of  the  revoltera 

in  the  IS'etherlauds,  202. 
increasing  popularity  of,  203. 
announces  nis    deternuuation 
to  depose  Rhodolph  111., 204. 
his   demand     that    Rhodolph 

should  abdicate,  205. 
distrust  of  by  the  Protestants, 

XX)5. 
arrest  of  the  Lord  of  Inzendorf 

by,  206. 
reluctance  of  to  sign  the  con- 
ditions, 207. 
elected  king,  207. 
haughtiness    of   towards    the 

Austrians,  208. 
political  reconciliation  between 

Rhodolph  III.  and,  219. 
march  of  against  Leopold,  221. 
limitations  affixed  to  the  offer 

of  the  ciown  to,  222. 
coronation  of,  224. 
marriage  of,  SS5. 
suspicions    of    the    Catholics 

against,  229. 
elected  Emperor  of  Germany, 

^9. 
thwarted  in   his   attempts  to 

levy  an  army,  230. 
concludes  a  truce  with  Turkey, 

231. 
his  revival  of  the  ban  against 

the  Protestants,  231. 

efforts  of  to  secure  tlie  crown  of 

Germany  for  Ferdinand,  232. 

opposed  by  theProte8tant8,2.3.3. 

defiant  reply  of  to  the  congress 

at  Prague,  236. 
disposition  of  to  favor  toler- 
ation. 239. 
death  of,  344. 
MaUBICS  (of  Saxony),  Protestant  princi- 
ples of,  131. 
treaty    of    with    the    King    of 

France,  1.32. 
capture  of  the  Tyrol  by,  133. 
demands  of  from  Charles  V.,135. 
death  of,  137. 
HdZDQUAli  L,  ambition  of,  84. 

efforts  of  to  rouse  the  Ital- 
ians, 88. 
efforts  to  secure  the  Swiss 

estates,  89. 
defeat   of  at  the  diet  of 
Wonas,  87. 


583 


INDEX. 


H&smiviAN  I.  {contlnved),  lonsed  to  new 

eflEorts,  93. 
euperstitious  fraud  of.  93. 
drawn  into  a  war  with  Ba- 
varia, &4. 
league  formed  by  against 

tne  Veuetians.  85. 
abandoned  by  liis  allies,  97. 
perseverance  of  rewarded, 

98. 
confident  of  success  against 

Italy,  99. 
letter  of  to  his  daughter,  99. 
snccess  beginning  to  attend, 

100. 
plans    of    to    secure    the 
crowns  of  Hungary  and 
Bohemia.  101. 
contempt  of  for  the  pope, 

103. 
peculiarities  of  exhibited, 

103. 
death  of,  104. 
accomplishments  of,  105. 
mUsiHIUAS  n.  allowed  to  assume  the  title 
of  emperor  elect,  161. 
character  of,  169. 
his  letter  to   the  Elector 

Palatine,  ITO. 
profession  of  the  Catholic 

faith,  170, 
address  of  to  Henry  of  Va- 

lois.  172. 
liber^     toleration     main- 
tained by,  173L 
answer  of  to  the  complaints 

of  the  diet,  173. 
offer  of  to  pay  tribute  to 

the  Turks,  174. 
elected    King  of    Poland, 

180. 
death  of,  181. 
character  and  acquirements 

of,  16-i. 
tribute  of  honor  by  the  am- 
bassadors to,  183. 
wife  of,  183. 
fate  of  his  children,  184. 
MAXiMtLlANCbrother  of  Matthias),  the  can- 
didate of  the  Protestants, 
229. 
Maximilian,  Joseph,  ascends  the  throne 

of  Bavaria,  451. 
Meinhabd,  legitimate  rights  of,  50. 

death  of,  50. 
Melanothon,  character  of,  119. 
Mentz,  taunts  of  the  Elector  of ,  38. 
Metterxich,  his  theory  of  social  order,  606. 
Metz,  siege  of,  137. 
Milan,  captured  by  Louis  XII.,  90. 

Louis  XII.  created  Duke  of,  90. 
Ministeb  (see  the  countries  for  which  the 

minister  acted). 
Moiiatz,  battle  of,  146. 
Molnitz,  the  court  of  E'rederic  established 

at,  421. 
MoNTECucuLi  (Prince),  commander  of  the 

troops  of  Leopold,  311.  _ 
MoNTSEKBAT,  shrine  of  the  noly  Virgin 

at,  355. 
MosAViA,  to  be  held  fire  jrears  by  Kho- 
dolph.  31. 
the  province  of,  208. 


MoRAVtA  (ptrnHnvedTf,  trhnnphal  nardi  of 

Count  Thnm  into,  347. 
MosBS  TzEiiELi,  crowned  Prince  of  Tran- 
sylvania, 196. 
MxTLBBiM,  the  fortifications  of  demolished, 

232. 
Munich  captured  by  Frederic,  449. 
MuBCHFEELD,  meeting  of  the  armiies  on  the 
field  of,  29. 

N. 

Naples,  subjugation  of ,  81  _  _.  . 
NAFOI.BON  BoNAPABTB,  Similarity  of  the 

?lans  of  Henry 
V.  and,  216. 
remark  of  verified, 

262. 
remark  of  concern- 
ing Russia,  3991. 
Nbthbblanss,  revolt  in  the,  201. 

Marlborough  in  possession 
of  the,  339. 
Nbcpebg  (General),  imprudence  and  ineolt 
of.  408. 
arrested  by  Charles,  413. 
Nbcstadt,  the  emperor's  remains  to  'JX 

deposited  at,  104. 
Nicholas  (Count  of  Zrini),  heroic  defestae 

of  Zigeth  by,  176. 
NissA,  capture  of,  402.  .  ^  ^  „^ 

Nobles,  the,  of  Bohemia  banished,  SSI 
Nor  ABBA,  defense  of  the  citadel  of,  90L 
Ndbbhbubq,  congress  at,  227. 

tequest  (rf,  that  Rhoooipik 

should  abdicate,  228. 
battle  of,  290. 
famine  in  tlie  city  of,  SSO. 


Oppicebs,  ignorance  of  the  Austrian,  389. 
Obleans  (Duke  of),  matrimonial  arrange- 
ments of  the,  369. 
death  of  the,  378 
Obsova  captured  by  the  Turks,  405. 

surrendered  to  tke  Turks,  408. 
Otho  marries  Hedwige,  of  Hapsburg,  25. 

harmonious  rale  of,  46. 
OTTOOAB(of  Bohemia),  candidate  forcrown 
of  Germany,  23. 
opposition  of  Rhodolph,  24. 
command  of  the  diet  to,  24. 
message  of,  to  Ehodolph,  24. 
power  of,  25. 

his  contempt  for  Rhodolph,  25. 
his    excommunication    by    the 

pope,  26. 
his  performance  of  feudal  hom- 
age, 27. 
violates  his  oath,  28. 
the  body  of  found  after  battle,  80. 
Ozbnstiebn  (Chancellor),  appointed  com- 
mander of  the  Swedish  as- 
my,  •:"n. 


Palatinate,  territory  of  the,  230. 
Pappenheisi  (Gieneral),  death  of,  293. 
1  Pas&ait,  diet  at.  IB?. 


IN^DEX. 


583 


Pjflne,  Latber*B,  IIS. 

F*DI>  UL  (of  Ruseia),  aUiaooe  at  vritii 

Prussia,  480. 
assassination  of,  4801 
Paui.  IV.  (Pope),  death  of,  162. 
Pbach  of  Paasarovitz,  364. 
PsoFUk  contempt  for  the,  95. 
Pbst  taken  by  the  Turks,  147. 
PBTEB  thk  GfBEAT,  ambition  of,  899. 

death  of,  399. 
Pbtebwabdein,  streugth  of,  40C. 
PBn4iP  (of  Burgundy)  obtains  the  dak» 

dora  of  Burgundy,  84. 
Phtlip  III.  institntes  the  order  of  the 

Golden  Fleece,  '672. 
pBDIP  "^.  (of  Spain)  obtains  renunciation 
of  succeBsion  in  favor  of  Mar* 
garet,  314. 
resolve  of,    to  maintahi  bis 

throne,  341. 
sopported  by  his  snbjecte,  &^ 
flight  of,  from  Catalona,  343. 
PbiuP  v.,  despondency  of,  360. 
abdication  of,  370. 
resmnee  his  crown,  8S1. 
VajBUAM,  diet  at,  68. 
PrcB  IV.  elected  pope,  162. 
PouBBBAD  ((reorge)  assumes  regal  ao- 
thority,  68. 
intrusted  with  the  regency  of 

Bohemia,  68. 
elected  King  of  Bohemia,  73, 
PotAHB,  conditions  affixed  to  the  throne 
of,  laa 
Stephen  Barthor!  cboeen  king  of, 

by  the  minority,  181. 
attempts  of  France  to  place  Stan- 

islaos  on  the  throne  of,  383. 
Coant  Poniatowski  eectues  the 

down  of,  481 
to  be  carved  oat,  48i. 
anniliilation  of,  486. 
PoHEBAmA,  seizure  of,  by  Ferdinand,  269. 
POHFADOtTB  (Marcliiouess  of),  arrogance 

of  the,  404. 
PoBiiATOwsKi  (Count),  elected  King  of  Po- 
land, 484. 
Pope,  the  letter  of  Rhodolph  to,  24. 

character  of  Pope  Gregory  X.,  24. 
indignation  of  the,  .38. 
capitulation  of  the,  84. 
(Alexander  ^^.)  bribery  of,  89. 
(Joiins  n.)  the.  bought  over,  92. 

bull  of  the,  deposing  the 

King  of  Naples,  93 
demands  of  the,a8  booty, 

infamy  of,  95. 

infamous     acquisitions 
of  98. 

prociammation    against 
the,  by  Maximilian,  US. 

death  of,  lOO. 
John  of  Medici  elected  as,  100. 
(Leo  X.),  commaud  of  the,  to  Lntlier 

to  repair  to  Rome,  102. 
Maximilian's  contempt  for  the,  103. 
bull  of  the,  against  Luther,  108- 
bull  of  the,  burned  by  Luther,  109. 
death  of  Leo  X.j  the,  113. 
(Adrian),  accession  of,  as,  113. 
(Clement   VII.)    succeeds   Adrian, 

ua. 


PoFB  (etrnHmted),  offer  of  panlon  by  tin, 

for  those  wIk>  assist  in  enforcing 

the  CouucU  of  Trent,  135. 
disgust  of  the,  again8tCharle8V.,129. 
(Julius  111.)  elected  as,  i;iO. 
indignation  of  the,  at  the  toleration 

of  tlie  diet  at  Passau,  138. 
tbe,  allows  Maximilian  to  assume 

the  title  of  emperor  elect,  161. 
Intoleraut  pride  of,  161. 
mus  IV.)  elected  as,  162. 
uepeudeuce  on  the,  dispensed  witli, 

refusal  of  the,  to  reform  abuses,  165t 
attempts  of  the  to  influence  Maxi- 
milian n.,  174. 
aid  extended  to  Ijeopold  by  the,  311. 
embassage  from  Charles  II.  to  the, 

329. 
alarm  of  the,  at  the  innovations  of 
Joseph  n.,  494. 
Pbaqkatic  Sanction,  the,  364. 

the,  suppofted  by 
various  powers, 
461. 
Pbaocb,  Ferdinand  crashes  the  revolt  in, 
15G. 
diet  at,  158. 

seizure  of,  by  Lec^mid,  221. 
archbishop  of,  expeUM  from  the 

city,  889. 
indignation  of  the  intiabitaiitB  (A, 

against  Frederic,  262. 
sorrender  of,  to  Ferdinand,  2Si. 
eorrender  of,  to  the  Austriaoa, 

443. 
suffering  in,  on  accoant  of  ttlfl 
siege.  47^. 
Pbauhstbin  (Lord  of),  reasons  for  tbe^ 

declaring  war,  80. 
Pbecocitt,  not  a  modem  innovatiaQ,  IOSl 
PuESBtJKG,  diet  at,  309. 
Pbesb,  success  of  the,  in  diflofiing  intdB- 

gence,  102. 
Printing,  the  influence  of,  begtoclag  to  be 

felt,  ea 

Pbtvileqes  confined  to  the  nob-es,  ISTT. 
Protest  of  the  minority  at  tJie  diet  at 

Spires,  116. 
Pbotestantism,  spread  of^  in  Europe,  188. 
its  working  for  ubertyf 
2ft4. 
Pbotbbtabts,  assembly  of,  at  Smalkalde, 
121. 
refusal   of    the,   to  assist 

Charles  V.,  128. 
contributions  of  tlie,  to  ex- 
pel the  Turks,  132. 
increaae  of  the,  123. 
the,  reject  ttteCooncO  of 

Trent,  124. 
ruin  of  the  army  of  the,  by 

Charles  V.,  128. 
party  of  the,  predominant 

in  GJermauy,  1.33. 
■hameful  quarreling  among 

the,  190. 
anion  of,at  A8chhaafien,191. 
opposition  of  the,  to  Mat- 
thias, 206. 
ttieir  demands  an  Matthias, 

207. 
leaeonubli  demands  of,  211. 


INDEX. 


Pbotbstasts  ieontlmieS),  forces  of  the, 

vanquished  at  Pritznitz, 

259. 

secret  combinations  of  the, 

for  the  riaiug  of  the,  267. 

concessions  to,  revoked  by 

Ferdinand,  270. 
the,  prefer  the  Duke  of  Bava- 
ria to  any  of  the  family  of 
Ferdinand,  279. 
loss  of  the,  in  the  death  of 

Gustavus,  296. 
pleasure  of  the,  at  the  entry 
of  Frederic  into  Silesia,419, 
Pbctssia  Inhabited  by  a  pagan  race,  20. 
alliance  of,  with  Austria,  459. 
alliance  of,  with  England,  466. 
a  subsidy  voted  to,  by  England, 

475. 
formidable  preparations  against, 
470. 
Pbcssians,  the,  driven  from  Bohemia,  4S0. 


R. 

Baab  taken  by  the  Turks,  147. 
Ragotskt  (Francis),  leader  of  the  rebel- 
lion, 3;33. 
assembles  a  diet,  349. 
chosen  dux,  or  leader,  350. 
outlawed,  and  escape  of,  351. 
Eatisbon,  diet  at,  in  1629,  275. 

refusal    of,    to    accept  Ferdi- 
nand's word,  276. 
Repobmation,  commencement  of  the.  103. 
Religion,  remarkable   solicitude  for  the 

reputation  of,  98. 
Reward  offered  for  the  head  of  Rhodolph, 

30. 
Rhodolph  (of  Hapsburg),  at  the  time  of 
his  father's  death,  18. 
presentation  of,  by  the  emperor 

for  baptism,  19. 
his  incursions,  19. 
marriage.  19. 
excommunication  of,  20. 
engaged  in  Prussian  crusade,  20. 
a  monument  reared  to,  by  the 

city  of  Strasburg,  21. 
principles  of  honor,  21. 
chosen  chief  of  Uri,  Schweitz, 

and  Underwalden,  21. 
chosen  mayor  of  Zurich,  21. 
elected  Emperor  of  Germany, 

23. 
power  of,  as  emperor,  25. 
family  of,  25. 

gathering  clouds  around,  28. 
address  of  the  citizens  of  Vien- 
na to,  28. 
death  of,  35. 
Khodolph  n.,  character  and  court  of,  48. 
ostentatious  titles  of,  51. 
death  of,  51. 
BaoDOiiPH  HI.  crowned  King  of  Hungary, 
178. 
obtains  the  imperial  throne, 

180. 
bigotry  of,  187. 
his    infringement    of    the 
rights    of   the   burghers, 


RBoooLra  HI.    (continued),    Ms  blows 

against  Protestantism,189. 

intolerance  of  in  Bohemia, 

193. 
superstition  of,  200. 
his  favor  to  Ferdinand,  204. 
demands  of  the  Protestants 

on,  205. 

his  encouragement  of  fllli- 

busteriug  expedition8,208. 

remarkable  pliancy  of,  210. 

his  terror  at  the  chance  of 

assassination,  212. 
political    reconciliation  be- 
tween Matthias  and,  219. 
his  plot  with  Leopold,  220. 
Rhodolph    taken  prisoner, 

231. 
his  abdication,  222. 
required  to  absolve  his  sub- 
jects from  their  oath  of 
allegiance,  223. 
retains  the  crown  of  G!er- 

many,  225. 
supplication  of  to  the  con- 
gress at  Rothemberg,  226. 
a   congress  at   Nuremberg 

summoned  by,  227. 
death  of,  228. 
Rhodolph  (of  Bohemia),  death  of,  39. 
RnrsTE,  separating  Basle  from  Rhodolph, 

23. 
Richelieu,  motives  influencing,  2C7. 

ambassadors  of  urge  the  Duke 
of  Bavaria  as  candidate  for 
the  imperial  crown,  279. 
RIPPEBDA  (Baron),  the  secret  agent  of  the 
Queen  of  Spain  at  Vienna,  373. 
rise  and  fall  of,  375. 
escape  of  to  England,  376. 
Robinson  (Sir  Thomas),  interview  of  with 

Maria  Theresa,  454. 
Rothenburg,  congiess  at,  226. 
Russia,  growing  power  of,  399. 

succession  of  the  crown  of,  399. 
instrumental  in  placing  AugufltuB 
II.  on  the  thione,  400. 


S. 


Sabagossa,  battle  of,  343. 
Saxont,  defeat  of  the  Elector  of,  128. 
nobility  of,  128. 
degradation  of,  128. 
power  of,  132. 

the  electorate  of,  passes  to  Augns- 
tus,  137. 
Schabtlin    (General),    the     Protestants 

march  under,  125. 
Schweitz,  Rhodolph  of  Hapsburg  chosen 

chief  of,  21. 

ScLATONiA,  marriage  of  the  Duke  of  to 

the  daughter  of  Rhodolph,  25. 

Sbckenbobp  (General ),  the  Austrian  army 

intrusted  to,  400. 

his  plans  of  campaign  broken 

up  by  Charles,  402. 
capture  of  Nissa  by,  402. 
condemned  to  the  dungeon, 
402. 
Seceet  Aeticles  of  the  treaty  vrtth  AuS' 
tria.  376. 


INDEX 


585 


Seoebsbo,  leagae  at.  287. 

ScasLETTAC  ctieneraJ),  the  retreat  of  Wal- 

lis  anri-ted  by,  407. 
compelled  to  yield  Belgrade, 

4oy. 

Sruh  sncceeds  Sol.\Tnan.  177. 
Sbkbnsbia,  defeube  of,  64. 
its  cajjture,  65. 
Sbmpach,  battle  ot,  65. 
SxBFa  eniaucipatod  by  Joseph  EI.,  494. 

hk  plan  for  seiziiig  Bavaria  fms- 
trated,  495. 
Seven  Teaks'  Wak,  tenniuation  of  the, 

481. 
Sicily,  Bubjj-  ated  and  attached  to  the 

Neapolitan  crown,  388. 
SieiBMOND  (Francis,  Duke  of  Tyrol),  his 
alliance  with  Rhodolph,  195. 
representation  in  the  diet  in- 
troduced by,  30S. 
death  of,  314. 
SlsiBafONO  (of  Bohemia),  power  of,  60.  _ 

address  of  to  the  diet  at  Znaim, 

61. 
death  of,  62. 
Silesia  sold  to  Rhodolph,  105. 

taken  possession  of  by  Frederic, 
418. 
SisEOK,  Turks  routed  at,  195. 
Slavata  thrown  from  the  palace  by  the 

mob,  ass. 
Rmat.kat.tik,  assemlily  of  the  Protestants 

at,  121. 
SoiiYMAU  (the  Magnificent),  victories  of, 
14G. 
reply  of  to  the  demand  made  by 

Ferdinand,  147. 
tis  method  of  o\ercoming  diffl- 

cuilies,  149. 
his  attack  upon  Guntz,  150. 
his  price  of  peace  with  Hungary, 

la3. 
death  of  from  rage,  176. 
SPAIS  decreed  by  the  will  of  Charles  11.  to 
succeed  to  France,  331. 
espouses  the  cause  or  Ferdinand  n., 

250. 
assistance  furnished  Leopold  by,311 . 
invasion   of    by   the   British   and 

Charles  III.,  354. 
treaty  between  Austria  and,  373. 
the  Austrians  forbidden  to  trade  in, 

380. 
invasion  of  Italy  by,  ;388. 
Spaniards,  the,  routed  at  Catalonia,  813. 
St.  Bartholomew,  massacre  of,  171. 
St.  Gothakd,  troops  stationed  at,  311. 

battle  of,  312. 
St.  Ildeponso,  the  palace  of,  870. 
St.  Justus,  convent  of,  140. 
St.  Petersburo,  rearing  of  the  city  of  ,399. 
Stanhope  (General),  bearing  of,  S42. 
desperate  position  of,  347. 
STAHlfll.APa  Leczinski,  career  of,  882. 

daughter  of  married 

to  Louis  XV.,  382. 

receives  a  pension 

from  France,  883. 

elected  King  of  Po- 

land,  .38:3. 
bis  man'elous  jour- 
ney through  Ger- 
many, 381. 


Starbmbebo  ((Seneral),  bearing  of,  342. 
State,  the  independence  of  each  German 

la 

Stephen,  crowning  of  the  infant  as  king, 

152. 
Stephen  BoTSKOi,  indignity  offered  to,197. 
his  manifesto,  198. 
proclaimed     King    of 
Hungary,  199 
Stettin  captured  by  Gustavus  Adolphos. 

281. 
Stetzim,  diet  at,  349. 
Stralsund.  defense  of,  269. 
Stbickland  i=ent  to  London  to  overthrow 

the  cabinet,  392. 
STTP.IA  traver.sf'd  by  the  Turks,  311. 
Sweden  roused   by  Gustavus  Adolphus 
against  Ferdinand  11.,  280. 
pruaent  conduct  of  on  death  of 
GuKta\-u8,  297. 
Sweden,  eorro^v  of  the  at  the  death  oi 

GuBta\Ti8,  294. 
Switzekland,  divisions  of,  40. 


T. 

Thckn  (Count)  leads  the  mob  to  the  king's 
council,  237. 
appointed  commander  of  the  Prot- 
estants, 338. 
invades  Austria,  2^17. 
TiLLT  (Count),    the  imperial    troops   in- 
trusted to,  282. 
Titian,  graceful  compliment  of  Charles  V. 

to,  144. 
Tbausnitz,  Frederic  I.  a  prisoner  at  the 

castle  of,  4-3. 
Traksltvania.  rebellion  in,  833. 
Treasure  abandoned  by  the  Turks,  323. 
Treaty  of  Passau,  1.36. 
Tbent,  Council  of,  124. 

the  second  cx)unciJ  at,  180. 
council  at  in  1562,  164. 
declarations  of,  166. 
Tribtjnal  at  Eperies.  324. 
Trieste,  arrival  of  troops  at,  94. 
Tltsenne,  the  Palatinate  devastated  by, 
315. 
challenged  by  the  Elector  of 
Palatinate,  316. 
Turin,  the  court  of  bribed,  89. 
TOBKB,  orisin  and  increase  of  the,  63. 
defeat  of  at  Belgrade,  70. 
spread  of  the,  121. 
Invasion  of  Hnngary  by  the,  128. 
the,  driven  from  Hnngary,  122. 
treaty  of  Charles  V.  with  the,  123. 
victorious  in  Hungary,  136. 
Invasion  of  Europe  by  the,  145. 
compelled  to  return  home,  1^. 
the,  retire  from  Hungary.  177. 
peace  made  by  Maxiinilian  with 

the,  ire. 
invasion  of  Croatia  by  the,  195. 
Union  of  the  with  the  forces  of 

Botskoi.  199. 
truce  of  Hungary  with  the,  203. 
the,  conclude  a  peace  with  AnstTla, 

231. 
Invasion  of  Hnngarv  by  the,  310. 
defeat  of  on  the  field  of  tit.  Go- 
thard.312. 


586 


INDEX. 


TuBKs  ioontinued),   favorable  treaty  se- 
cured by  tbe.  313. 
the  invaaion  of  Sclavonla  by  the, 

860. 
destruction  of  the  army  of  the,  363. 
the,  implore  peace,  364. 
Orsova  besieged  by  the,  404. 
the,  routed  at  Rimnik,  499.    ^^ 
TusciNY,  subjugation  of  by  Charles  VTH., 
84. 
aid  furnished  Leopold  by,  311. 
death  of  the  Dulie  of,  398. 
Ttrol,  marriage  of  Albert  to  Elizabeth, 
daughter  of  the  Count  of,  25. 
possession   of  obtained  by  Rho- 

dolph  n.,  50. 
its   power   as   the   key  to  Italy, 

313 
death  of  the  Duke  of,  314 


U. 

UiiADisiiAUS  obtains  the  throne  of  Hnn- 

gary,  66. 
TTlm,  rendezvous  of  the  Protestants  at, 

257. 
TTleic,  the  Protestant  Duke  of  restored  to 

Wirtemberg,  122. 
TTnbekwalden,  Rhodolph  of  Hapsburg 

chosen  chief  of,  21. 
Pri,  Rhodolph  of  Hapsburg  chosen  chief 

of,  21. 
Uttlbbebg,  capture  of  the  castle  of  by 
Rhodolph,  22. 


V. 

VALEBitrs  Babtholombw,  the  king's  con- 
fessor, 24S. 
VaIiLadoltd,  court  of  Philip  established 

at,  343. 
Vendome  (General)  joins  Philip,  343. 
Venice  bribed,  89. 

Maximilian  bound  by  truce  with, 

95. 
aid  furnished  Leopold  by,  311. 
Victor  Asmkdeus,  business  of,  369. 
Vienna  one  of  the  strongest  defenses  of 
the  empire,  26. 
the  king's  residence  at,  27. 
address  of  the  citizens  of  to  Rho- 
dolph, 28. 
siege  of,  74. 

the  prof  eesors  of  the  university  at 
avow  the  doctrines  of  Lntner, 
114. 


VtXNNA  (continvfid  ,  dssault  of,  32Q, 
deUvereu  Oy  Sobieski,  SiO. 


W. 

WAU.BKBTEIN  made  generalissimo  of  aO 

the  forces,  268. 
arrogance  of,  273. 
matrimonial    alliances    of, 

274. 
his  dismissal  from  the  army 

demanded,  276. 
he  retires  from  the  army, 

278. 
his  regal  mode  of  living,  287. 
his   humiliating   exactions 

from  the  emperor,  289. 
superstition  of,  291. 
urges  Ferdinand  to  make 

peace,  297. 
traitorous  otter  to  surrender 

to  the  Swedes,  298. 
his  assassination,  299. 
WiUitS  (Marshal)  given  the  command  of 
the  army,  406. 
arrested  by  Charles,  413. 
Wab,  its  debit  and  credit  account;  859 
(see  also  the  various  campaigns). 
Waterloo,  its  advantage  to  Austria,  404. 
Wenceslads  acknowledged  king,  31. 
marriage  to  Judeth,  31. 
death  of,  38. 
Westphalia,  signing  of  the  peace  of,  300. 
conditions  of  the  treaty  of, 
301. 
White  Mountain,  battle  of,  259. 
William  (son  of  Leopold),  demand  of  for 
the  government,  58. 
marriage  of,  59. 
WiNKBLBEiD  (Arnold),  heroism  of,  56. 
WisMAR,  the  naval  dei)otof  Ferdinand,268. 
Wittemberg,  procession  of  the  students 

of,  109. 
WoBMs,  diet  at  in  1521,  108. 

the  diet  of  inveighs  Luther,  110. 


Zealand,  encampment  of  Charles  Gns- 

tavus  in,  306. 
ZiGETH,  heroic  defense  of  by  Nicholas,  176. 
noble  death  of  the  garrison  of,  177, 
ZiNZENDOBP,  remark  of,  393. 
Znaim,  diet  at,  61. 

ZuBicB,  Rhodolph  of  Hapsbarg  chosen 
chief  of,  21. 


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